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ESMS Manual
This file is the ESMS manual/bible/manuscript (or
whatever other smart name you can make up for it).
It contains descriptive information about the ESMS
program and it's virtually impossible to start
using ESMS w/o reading it first.
********************************************
****** Section 1: General information ******
********************************************
1.0 BRIEF HISTORY
-----------------
The program was created by me (Eli Bendersky) and Igor
Oks. We started our soccer play-by-email way in 1998 in
a fantasy league called WWISL, which used spreadsheets
to 'run' games. This was extremely cumbersome and time
consuming, and the league fell apart short after starting.
But the people who participated in WWISL were left with
the feeling that this kind of a game may be successful.
Shortly after the WWISL fell apart, David Austin and
myself, formerly WWISL players, teamed up to create a new
play-by-email league, calling it the Global Internet
Soccer League (GISL). The GISL used a program named MSWL,
which was created by Allan Sellers to run its games, and
had 30 participants (team managers). GISL went through
all the difficult phases of a start-up league, but managed
to survive, and ran very successfully for 3 full seasons
(a bit longer than a calendar year). However, over that
time, the league developed some unique needs and features
that weren't covered by MSWL, and were handled manually.
This is about the time when we (my humble self and Igor)
decided to create a program of our own, which will both
answer the unique needs developed in GISL and be an
improvement of MSWL. We took our time during a break
we had in our University studies and in about a month
created the basic skeleton of ESMS. It then took a couple
of months of much less intensive work to create the final
form of the main (game running) program and the other
components, and ESMS was released in early 1999.
For the record, the first official ESMS game was run on
April 10th, 1999, in a test league we arranged with some
friends to test the program. The GISL started to use it
almost immediately after release, and it didn't take much
time for other leagues to pop-up using this program. Today,
ESMS is widely used in dozens of leagues, by thousands
of managers from all over the world.
Starting with about half a year after the release, Igor
has other, more important duties to devote his time to,
and since then only I offer support for ESMS, release
updates, fix bugs, add features etc. You can contact me
by email at spur@cyberdude.com
1.1 WHAT IS ESMS ?
-------------------
The ESMS program is a soccer management simulator for
play-by-email games. A play-by-email (PBEM) soccer game
usually consists of an administrator, who runs the
league, and managers, each managing one or more teams
in the league. The game is a PBEM version of many famous
management games, like the Premier Manager, Ultimate
FIFA manager, and of course the great Championship Manager
series. However, it only consists of the league running
part, which includes running a game between two teams
using their rosters and team sheets (see below for
details), updating the rosters using the after-game stats,
and updating the league table, using the results. All
other aspects of soccer management, eg. Player Transfers
should be developed by each league for its best use.
These aspects are easy to handle and need no computer
programs. This program was written especially not for a
specific league, but with possibility for many uses and
different ideas, using the same game engine.
It is important to note that whoever uses this program,
must understand the rules of soccer and know how is it
played.
1.2 WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN ORDER TO USE ESMS ?
---------------------------------------------
A simple answer to this question: nothing, just download it.
A longer answer: I believe in the idea of free software.
Free not only in the sense of "no money" but in the sense
of "fully available for anyone willing to get it, or it
sources". You can read more about these ideas on the FSF
(Free Software Foundation) website at www.fsf.org
Therefore, ESMS is allowed for free, under the very lenient
GNU Private License (I hope you didn't forget to read the
license.txt file)... Shortly, it means you don't have to
pay for ESMS and you can freely redistribute it. Moreover,
if you want to see the source code of ESMS (mixed C and
C++ code), ask me and I'll send it to you. So lets go back
to the short answer: just download the program and use it
for your pleasure.
1.3 WHAT IS THIS HELP FILE ABOUT ?
----------------------------------
1.3.1 This file explains all the concepts of ESMS, to both
the managers and the league administrators. Therefore, it is
absulotely compulsory for everyone who is interested in the
game to read this file from the beginning to the end in order
to understand how ESMS works and all its aspects in detail.
There is another help file, made especially for the administrator,
which explains in detail how to run the league and how to use
all the supplementary programs ESMS offers.
1.3.2 This file is divided into sections, which are divided
into paragraphs. There are many references from one paragraph
to another in the file, and it is easy to use. If you want
to find specific topics you can try searching by keywords,
eg. "injury", "ability", "tackle" etc.
*****************************************************
****** Section 2: Fundamental concepts & terms ******
*****************************************************
2.0 HOW IS A GAME PLAYED ?
--------------------------
2.0.1 A team in ESMS is represented by a "roster". A roster
is a text file in a special format, which includes all the
players of the team and their attributes.
2.0.2 A "team sheet" in ESMS is a text file which includes
orders for the game for each team. These orders include
the list of 11 starting players, 5 subs and various
commands for the program. The teamsheet is basically the
instructions each manager gives to his team before the game.
More on this in section 3.
2.0.3 To play a match each manager has to send the league
administrator a teamsheet with instructions for the match.
The administrator must have the rosters of the participating
teams. It is very important to note here that the game is
not run in "real-time", but all at once.
Meaning that a manager can't interfere on a specific minute
and tell the administrator to substitute a player or change
tactic. The manager's work is concluded by sending a teamsheet
with instructions to the admin.
All these instructions are included in the team sheet sent
by the managers in the correct format, the program reads these
insctuctions and implements them during the game.
After the game is finished, the program generates commentary
file for the game and the admin sends it to the managers
of the playing teams. The commentary files are discussed in
further detail in section 5.
Then, the adminn uses the various supplementary tools of ESMS
to update the rosters and the league table.
2.1 ROSTERS & PLAYERS
---------------------
If you look at a valid roster of ESMS, you will see a header
line and a list of players with a lot of numbers near them.
This section will explain exactly what each number means.
Lets take an example line from a roster file:
Name Age Nat St Tk Ps Sh Ag KAb TAb PAb SAb Gam Sav Ktk Kps Sht Gls Ass DP Inj Sus
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N_Amoruso 22 ita 2 4 6 10 26 300 420 550 690 5 0 2 4 12 4 0 8 0 0
2.1.1 Name: The name of the player. It's recommended not to
create names longer than 12 characters. The name of a player
mustn't include spaces, it is common to use underline '_'
symbol instead (placing the first letter of the first name
separated by '_' from the rest, ie. M_Owen or A_DelPiero).
2.1.2 Age: Player's age. Each league sets different rules for
player aging. The league may decide that each season each
player is getting older by one year, etc. The age is placed
in the roster with no use for the game running program and
needed only for statistics and rules set up by each league.
2.1.3 Nat: Player's nationality, abbreviated in 3 characters.
As the age, it is not used by the game running program and
placed in the roster only for statistics.
These three attributed were mostly for statistics, and didn't
really have any meaning to the program (except of maybe the
name, which must be the same in the roster and in the teamsheets,
to let ESMS recognize which players a manager wishes to use
in a game).
The rest of the attributes are used and changed by the program.
This is the right place to say that in ESMS the player has
no predifined position, and it is up to the manager to decide,
depending on the player's skills, where he want the player to
play in each game. A player can play as a goalkeeper (GK),
defender (DF), midfielder (MF) or forward (FW).
Now we'll move to the next attributes:
[same player pasted here to avoid hectic scrolling]
Name Age Nat St Tk Ps Sh Ag KAb TAb PAb SAb Gam Sav Ktk Kps Sht Gls Ass DP Inj Sus
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N_Amoruso 22 ita 2 4 6 10 26 300 420 550 690 5 0 2 4 12 4 0 8 0 0
2.1.4 St: Is the player's shot-stopping skill. In other words,
his goalkeeping skill. For the best performance, the manager
has to place the player with the highest St as the goalkeeper.
Of course the manager is not obligated to do so, and it is up
to him to consider.
2.1.5 Tk: Is the player's tackling skill. Mostly used by players
playing in the defense.
2.1.6 Ps: Is the player's passing skill. Mostly used by players
in the midfield, for creating opportunities and assisting goals.
2.1.7 Sh: Is the player's shooting skill. It defines the player's
skill to shot to goal and reach these shooting chances.
Note: From what you can see on the player in the example, his
highest skill is shooting. Therefore this player will perform
his best as a forward. Of course he can play in any position
if needed, even as goalkeeper, but his contribution will be
worse than as a forward.
2.1.8 Ag: Is the player's aggression. The aggression of a player
doesn't change, it stays the same for his whole career. In ESMS
the aggression is a value between 1 and 100 and it defines how
aggressive a player plays. More on aggression can be read in
paragraph 4.3.1
2.1.9 KAb, TAb, PAb, SAb: Player ability for each skill. A
number ranging from 0 to 1000 and can affect the player's
skills. Abilities vary from game to game depending on the
player's performance.
2.1.10 Gam: Simply the amount of games the player played. If the
player participated in a game, even if he played a single
minute, it will be counted as an another game when the
admin runs the roster updating tool.
2.1.11 Sv: The total amount of saves the player made. Only if the
player played as a goalkeeper he can make saves.
2.1.12 Ktk: The total amount of key tackles the player made to stop
scoring opportunities. Usually defenders will make the highest
amount of tackles, but midfielders and forwards tackle sometimes
too.
2.1.13 Kps: The total amount of key passes made by the player to
create goalscoring opportunities.
2.1.14 Sht: The total amount of shots to goal taken by the player.
2.1.15 Gls: The total amount of goals scored by the player.
2.1.16 Ass: The total amount of assists made by the player.
2.1.17 Dp: The total amount of disciplinary points accumulated by
the player. Disciplinary Points (DP) are "accumulated" when a
player gets yellow/red cards. More on DP in section 4.4
2.1.18 Inj: If a player isn't currently injured, Inj is 0. If
a player is injured, it indicates the amount of weeks he can't
play.
2.1.19 Sus: If a player isn't currently suspended, Sus is 0. If
a player is suspended, it indicates the amount of games he can't
play. More on this in section 4.4
Note the difference between "weeks" for Inj and "games" for
suspensions... Think about this in "real life" terms: It is common
to play league games once a week, with cup games in the middle
of the week. A player is injured for a certain amount of time
(eg. if he's injured for a week, he'll miss one game in a normal
league run, but he'll miss more games if some cup games were
played during the week), but suspended for an amount of games.
You should keep this in mind while planning your league.
2.2 PLAYER POSITIONS
--------------------
As was stated earlier, a player in ESMS doesn't have a pre-
defined position. The manager will have to decide where to
play a player in a game.
The ESMS system has 4 possible positions for players:
GK: Goalkeepers, only one GK is allowed to play at the same time
DF: Defender
MF: Midfielder
FW: Forward
Each league must decide for itself the restrictions on the
maximum and/or minimal number of DF's, MF's and FW's which
can play at the same time.
2.3 PLAYERS' "ACTUAL" SKILLS DURING THE GAME
--------------------------------------------
As you saw in section 2.1, each player in ESMS has 4 different
skills + aggression. These are his "raw skills", and he won't
always play with the same skill in a game. An "actual skill",
is the players's raw skill after some mathematical operations,
which depend on tactics and player's fatigue during the game
(more on fatigue in paragraph 4.2.1).
In any case, if 2 different players have different raw skills, and
they both play with the same conditions in the game (position
and the tactic of the team), then the player with the higher
raw skill will have a higher actual skill.
Aggression of the player stays the same during the course of
a game. The "Shot Stopping" (St) ability doesn't change either
(affected only by fatigue).
How do actual skills depend on player's position ?
A player which plays as defender will never use his full
shooting potential, as being a defender he will get almost
no chances to score. It also depends on the tactic of the team,
but it can be generally said that the full raw skill of the
player will be preserved only if the player plays on a suitable
position. For example if a player with Tk2, Ps4 and Sh10 playing
in the defense will have a defensive skill of 2 (it also depends
on the tactic, of course), but his actual Ps and Sh will be less
than the raw values. Therefore, a player with skills Tk4 Ps3 Sh3
will be more efficient as a defender, despite being a generally
worse player than the first one.
Players with more than one high skill will be extremely useful
as they will be able to perform well in several positions.
2.4 TEAM TACTICS
----------------
Each manager may choose a tactic for his team for a game.
The tactic can be changed during the game by suitable
instructions in the teamsheets.
This is the listing of possible tactics in ESMS:
2.4.1 N: Normal. No specific style of play, just normal game,
trying to use all parts of the team in the most suitable way.
2.4.2 D: Defensive. Focusing more on the defense. D is hard to
score against, but won't create many opportunities either,
it is the most defensive tactic. Midfielders and even
forwards will pay more attention to the defense.
2.4.3 A: Attacking. The most offensive tactic. The players try
to score as much as possible, effectively neglecting the defense.
This tactic may get you to score more goals but also concede
quite a few...
2.4.4 P: Passing. The team tries to move the ball quickly using
a lot of passes, even when these are not really needed. More
players try to help in the midfield to create slow but
efficient opportunities. This tactic is more offensive than
Normal but less offensive than Attacking.
2.4.5 C: Counter attack. The players concentrate on the defense,
while the forwards are waiting for counter-opportunities.
This tactic is more defensive than Normal but not as defensive
as D.
2.4.6 L: Long Ball. The most intriguing and unexpected tactic.
Can easily win a game with some circumstances, and completely
fail with other. The midfield is almost unsignificant, as
the team tries to defend and reach the forwards with long
balls. Thus, this tactic is especially useful for teams with
weak midfielders, and against some tactics/formations can
prove to be a lethal weapon.
Note: Each tactic, except of Normal has some bonuses against
some other tactics, which makes the decisions more
complicated and challenging. The bonuses table is below. It
also includes the 'Bonus type', which tells where is the
bonus added. xxx = for admins eyes only.
Tactic Against Bonus type
----------------------------------------------------------
Normal (N) None None
Defensive (D) xxx xxx
Attacking (A) xxx xxx
Cnt. Attack (C) xxx xxx
Long Ball (L) xxx xxx
Passing (P) xxx xxx
Conclusion: As you can see, the bonuses table is rather
complicated, and you can benefit a lot from predicting
correctly which tactic your opponent uses. If you aren't certain
about which tactic your opponent uses, you can play the
Normal tactic, as no other tactics has bonuses against it.
Each manager will eventually have some "repertoire" of
tactics for every case, when you must win, when you
must not lose, etc...
2.5 TEAM FORMATIONS
--------------------
ESMS has no pre-defined formations for teams. The formation
is simply the amount of DF's/MF's and FW's, so it is clear
that a team with 3 defenders, 4 midfielders and 3 forwards
plays a 3-4-3 formation. As stated above, the program itself
poses no restrictions on the maximal/minimal amount of players
in each position, each league must define these restrictions
for itself. It is highly reccomended for each league to do
so, in order not to have unusual situations, ie. a game
between two teams with a 8-1-1 formation can be very
boring, and it is doubtful if any scoring opportunities
will be created.
Each manager decides on his favourite formation either
by his players' skills (if for example his team hasn't
almost any good forwards, he will prefer formations with
fewer players in the attack) or if a manager feels that
a specific formation+tactic just "works well" for his
team and sticks to it.
Tactics and formation are very much linked, not by the
program (ESMS doesn't mind which tactic/formation you
play) but by the manager himself. It would be, of course,
bizzare to play 2-2-6 Defensive, as the formation and
the tactic contradict each other.
***********************************************
****** Section 3: Team sheets and orders ******
***********************************************
3.0 INTRODUCTION
----------------
As was stated before, a manager has to send a "team
sheet" for each game. The team sheet includes a list
of players and subs for the game, and various "orders"
to the program, explaining how to manage the team in
different situations. This section describes in detail
how to compose a team sheet and presents all the
various options a manager has in composing it.
3.1 WHICH "ORDERS" CAN A MANAGER INCLUDE IN THE TEAM SHEET ?
------------------------------------------------------------
Except of the list of players, the manager includes
various orders in the team sheet, which are actually
the instructions for the game. If a manager learns to
use these orders correctly and understands them, they
can be an important step to guarantee his team's
success. These are the different orders a manager can
give, with explanations:
3.1.1 Tactic for the game: The manager gives the program a
starting tactic his team will play. See above for a
detailed explanation about tactics.
3.1.2 Penatly kick taker: The manager names the primary penalty
kick taker for the game. If the player will be unavailable
when a penalty occurs (being suspended or injured before
that minute) the program will assign a penalty kick taker
by itself.
3.1.3 Conditionals: The conditionals are orders to the program,
telling it what to do in different situations which may arise
in the game.
The conditionals depend on the minute and/or the score
of the game.
The conditional orders are as follows: Change the tactic,
substitute one player for another and change the position
of a specific player. The conditional orders are given
by a set of key words, which will be discussed in detail
in the next paragraph of this section.
Now, the technical aspect of a team sheet will be discussed,
exactly how to write it... followed by examples.
3.2 A TEAM SHEET TEMPLATE
-------------------------
Below is a template for a team sheet in ESMS:
`````````````````````````````````
[Team name] /* The name of your roster, without the ".txt" extension
[Tactic] /* A single character specifying your starting tactic
GK [Player name] /* The first player in the team sheet must be a GK
[Pos] [Name] /* Here the other 10 starting players are listed,
[Pos] [Name] /* instead of [Pos] is written the position, which is
[Pos] [Name] /* either a DF, MF or FW, and the player's name
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name] /* These are the 5 subs for the game, again their
[Pos] [Name] /* position and name are stated
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
PK: [Player name] /* The primary PK taker. Must be one of the 16 listed !
[Odrer] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* [Order] and [Arguments] is
[Odrer] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* exactly what do.
[Odrer] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* [Condition] is the condition
[Odrer] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* for the order exacution.
... /* More info below.
...
...
`````````````````````````````````
3.3 ORDERS AND CONDITIONS
-------------------------
Important Note: In the orders, the players are
referred not by their names, but by their numbers.
The number of the player is simply his position if
you count players in a teamsheet from top to bottom.
Thus, the GK is number 1, the last player in the
opening squad is number 11, the first listed sub is
number 12, the last listed sub is number 16, I
hope you got the idea
We start with the orders and their arguments.
There are 3 different orders available:
3.3.1 TACTIC: Agrument - [NewTactic] in a single character,
is the order to change the tactic of the team to a
given tactic. For example: TACTIC L
Switches to long ball when the condition comes true.
A manager can include up to 15 conditions on tactic
change.
3.3.2 CHANGEPOS: Arguments - [PlayerNumber] [NewPosition].
Tells the program to swith the position of some
player to a new position. Place the player number
and the new position after the order. For example:
CHANGEPOS 11 DF tells the program to swith the player
number 11 to defender when the condition comes true.
A manager can include up to 15 conditions on position
change.
3.3.3 SUB: Arguments - [Pl.OutNumber] [Pl.InNumber] [Position]
Tells the program to substitute some player for another,
and play the substituter on a given position. The plyers
are again referred by numbers, It is important to put
the numbers in the correct order. For example: SUB 10 14 FW
will substitute the player number 10 to player number 14
and the sub (n.14) will play forward, when the condition
comes true. As the rules of soccer state, only 3
substitutions are allowed per team per game. A common
mistake is forgetting the [position] argument of this order.
You must specify the position, ESMS won't choose it for you.
Now the conditions will be explained. The condition comes
right after the order in the same line.
3.3.4 IF MIN = [Minute]: Pretty simple here. If the game reached
the stated minute, the order will be executed.
For example: CHANGEPOS 2 MF IF MIN = 56 will change the
position of player number 2 to midfielder on the 56'th
minute.
3.3.5 IF SCORE = [Score]: The [Score] argument is a SINGLE NUMBER
which stands for the differense in score between your team
and the opponent. 2 is leading by 2 goals, -6 is losing by
6 goals ets. For example:
TACTIC A IF SCORE = -1 means that the team will switch to
attacking tactic if is loses by one goal.
3.3.6 IF BOTH MIN [Sign] [Minute] SCORE [Sign] [Score]: The most
complicated and powerful condition in the game. The order
exacution can depend both on the score and the minute of
the game. The [Sign] argument can be either = , >= or =<
which gives this conditional an enormous flexibility. A
few examples:
TACTIC A IF BOTH MIN >= 45 SCORE =< -1 tells the program
to change tactic to attacking if it is later than the 45'th
minute and your team is losing by one or more goals.
CHANGEPOS 2 MF IF BOTH MIN =< 20 SCORE >= 1 tells the
program to switch player number 2 to midfielder if it
is earlier than the 20'th minute and your team leads by
one or more goals.
3.4 EXAMPLES OF TEAM SHEETS
---------------------------
In this section you'll find 2 complete teamsheets, with
comments:
Example 1
```````````````````````````````````````
bar /* Team name. The roster is therefore bar.txt
N /* Starting the game with a N (Normal) tactic
GK R_Hesp /* The first player is always a GK
DF J_Guardiola
DF F_De_Boer
DF M_Nadal
DF B_Sergi
MF L_Figo
MF Rivaldo
MF L_Enrique
MF R_De_Boer
FW S_Anderson
FW P_Kluivert /* The 10 field players were listed (formation: 4-4-2)
GK Vitor_Baia /* These are the 5 subs for the game
MF F_Abelardo
DF A_Celades
DF W_Bogarde
FW Giovanni
PK: S_Anderson /* S_Anderson is the primary penalty taker
TACTIC A IF BOTH MIN = 55 SCORE =< -1 /* If we're losing on min 55, play attacking
SUB 11 16 FW IF MIN = 60 /* Sub player 11 for player 16 on min 60
CHANGEPOS 8 DF IF SCORE = 1 /* If we lead by a goal, player 8 will play DF
TACTIC D IF SCORE = 2 /* If we lead by 2 goals, play defensive
```````````````````````````````````````
Example 2
```````````````````````````````````````
juv /* Team name. Therefore the roster is juv.txt
L /* Play long ball
GK A_Peruzzi /* First player is a GK
DF M_Iuliano
DF I_Tudor
DF Z_Mirkovic
DF G_Pessotto
MF D_Dechamps
MF A_Conte
FW Z_Zidane
FW T_Henry
FW N_Amoruso
FW A_Del_Piero /* Listed the field players. (formation: 4-2-4)
GK M_Rampulla
MF P_Montero
DF C_Ferrara
DF A_Tachinardi
FW J_Esnaider /* Listed 5 subs
PK: A_Del_Piero /* A_Del_Piero will take the penalties
SUB 6 13 MF IF MIN = 75 /* Sub pl.6 for pl.13 on the 75th minute
TACTIC C IF SCORE = 1 /* As you can see these 3 orders are for the
CHANGEPOS 8 DF IF SCORE = 1 /* same condition and tell the program to
CHANGEPOS 9 MF IF SCORE = 1 /* switch to 5-3-2 counter attack if leading
/* by one goal.
```````````````````````````````````````
*****************************************************
****** Section 4: Other components of the game ******
*****************************************************
4.0 WHAT IS THIS SECTION ABOUT ?
--------------------------------
This section is to complete the full picture of ESMS,
discussion on all other aspects and components of the game,
and detailed explanation on some important terms.
4.1 PLAYER'S ABILITY
--------------------
4.1.1 Apart from the 4 skills each player has (St, Tk, Ps
and Sh), he also has an ability value for each skill. Ability
is basically a number between 0 and 1000 which is measuring
the performance of the players in the recent time. If the
ability of a player reaches 1000, he has a skill increase.
When a player has a skill increase, his ability drops to about
300.
4.1.2 If a player's ability reaches 0, he will have a skill
decrease. The ability will then be set to 300.
4.1.3 There are many opportunities for an ability being increased
or decreased during the game. The number of points added or
deducted for each event can be defined by each league for
itself. Below is the list of "events" for which ability is
changed:
4.1.4 Goal: A player will get an ability increase
for each scored goal.
4.1.5 Assist: A player will get an ability increase
for each goal he assisted.
4.1.6 Ktk, Kps, Sht_On, Sht_Off: A player will get an
ability increase for each key tackle, key pass, or shot
(on or off target) to goal he will take. These bonuses
are usually much lower than the bonuses for goal and
assist.
4.1.7 Save: The goalkeeper will receive ability
points for each save he makes in the game.
4.1.8 Clean sheet: If a team doesn't concede a goal
during the game, the goalkeeper and one of the defenders
will receive an ability increase. If the goalkeeper was
substituted during the game, the goalkeeper who played
more will get the ability increase. The defender will
be chosen in random.
4.1.9 Victory: If a team wins the game, two of its players
will be given an ability increase. The two players are
chosen randomly.
4.1.10 Defeat: It is the only case when ability points
are decreased. If a team loses a game, two of its players
lose ability points. These players are chosen randomly.
Note: For more flexibility, the number of ability points
increased/decreased can be changed by the league
administrator to fit the needs of his particular league.
4.2 PLAYER'S FATIGUE
--------------------
4.2.1 It is natural that soccer players are getting tired
during the game. All players are getting tired, some less,
some more. This fatigue always affects a player's way of
playing. Close to the end of the game, a player will have
much less ability for long runs than in the beginning.
The feature of fatigue is also included in ESMS. Each
minute, the program multiplyes each player's actual skills
by a small coefficient. Until the end of the game, fatigue
is accumulated and the player plays at approximately 70 - 75
percent of his starting skill. This is why it is highly
recommended to substitute players during the game, to bring
some "fresh feet" to your team.
4.3 PLAYER AGGRESSION AND TEAM AGGRESSION
-----------------------------------------
4.3.1 As you already know from paragraph 2.1.8, each player
in ESMS has an aggression level. The aggression is a number
which ranges from 1 to 100 and it is not changed during the
player's career. The more aggressive player will make more
fouls, which might lead to bookings or even suspensions.
4.3.2 During the game, the program calculates the total
aggression of a team each minute. The total aggression has
two sides: On one hand, it adds the team some aspect of
"more will to play" and the more aggressive team plays better
than the less aggressive team (however the differense is very
small). On the other hand, the more aggressive team will make
more fouls which may result in penalties and bookings for its
players.
Note: Generally, the aggression is a "negative" skill of the
player and a team. The less aggressive player is better. However
all this is much less significant than the 4 skills of the player.
4.4 FOULS, BOOKINGS, AND DP'S
-----------------------------
4.4.1 During the game, each team usually makes a lot of fouls,
most of them are unsignificant, just to stop the attack of the
opponent. Fouls is an important feature included in ESMS and
they might lead to many possible consequences. The program takes
care only of the "serious" fouls, which deserve a warning or
a card shown to the player.
4.4.2 For some of the fouls the players will receive yellow
cards.
4.4.3 Two yellow cards in the same game or a red card shown to
the player cause his sending off the pitch, and will leave his
team with one player less. If a goalkeeper gets a red card, the
program will automatically replace him with the most suitable
player, which will cause a player less in other part of the
field.
4.4.4 Disciplinary points are included in ESMS as well. A player
receives a certain amount of DP for a yellow cards and another
for red cards. The number of DP's for each card can be defined
by each league for itself. These DP's, when accumulate can cause
to a player's suspension. The exact numbers for that can be set
by each league for its best use.
Note: The default in ESMS is 4 DP for a yellow card and 10 DP
for a red card. When a player reaches a total of 10 DP he will
suspended for one game, when he reaches 20 DP, for two games
and so on.
4.5 SUSPENSIONS
---------------
4.5.1 As was said in the previous section, accumulation of
disciplinary points can lead to a suspension of the player
for the certain amount of games. If you look at the "Sus"
column in the team roster you will see there for how many
games the player is currently suspended. The league runner
will have a special program to take care that this number
will be decreased by 1 after each game, so the manager will
always see how many games can't the player play.
4.6 PENALTIES
-------------
4.6.1 Some of the fouls may cause a penalty kick for the opposite
team. The penalty kick will be taken by the named primary PK
taker in the team sheet. If the player is unavailable in that
moment, being substituted or suspended before, the program will
assign another player to take the spot kick.
4.7 INJURIES
------------
4.7.1 During the game, there is always a chance that a player will
get injured. If a player in ESMS gets injured, the program will
substitute him for another player on his position from the bench.
If there will be no player on his position on the bench, the
program will find any other substitute for the player. If by
the time the injury occured the team already had 3 substitutions,
the player will leave the field and the team will remain with
one player less.
4.7.2 A player gets injured for a certain amount of weeks. This
is not defined by the game running program itself, but by the
updating program the league administrator will use to update
the rosters. After the update, in the "Inj" column of the player
will appear the number of WEEKS the player can't play.
The league administrator will use a special updating program
to decrease this number by 1 each week, so after the update the
manager will see for how many more weeks can't his player play.
4.8 KEEPING A LARGE SQUAD
-------------------------
4.8.1 It is highly recommended for each manager to keep a large
squad of players. As you saw in the last sections, a player
can get injured or suspended for several games or weeks, players
also get tired during the game and need to be substituted. These
are the problems the manager of real soccer team has to handle
every game. Having a small squad can cause you a lot of trouble
in running your team.
4.9 PLAYER'S AGE
----------------
4.9.1 Each player in ESMS has an age. The program doesn't
really need this value for anything, it is just for statistics.
Each league will set its own rules for the ages. Some examples of
uses are: A player is getting older by a year after the end of
each season; When the player reaches the age of 35 he retires.
4.10 HOME BONUS
---------------
4.10.1 When a team plays at its home ground, it has an advantage
over the opponent. The players know their ground better and the
crowd is supporting. Hence there is an indepentent home bonus
in ESMS, which can be defined by each league for itself. It means
that if two absolutely even teams, with the same skill players,
same formations and tactict, the home team has more chanses to
win the game. (The addition is relatively small, though)
*****************************************************
****** Section 5: The commentary file in ESMS ******
*****************************************************
5.0 COMMENTARY FILE NAME
------------------------
5.0.1 For the comfort of the league administrator and the manager,
the commentary file game consists of the names of the playing
teams. For example if juv and bar played the game, the commentary
file will be called juv_bar.txt
Another file will be created from that game, which is needed only
to the updating program.
5.1 WHAT DOES A COMMENTARY FILE INCLUDE ?
-----------------------------------------
5.1.1 A commentary file mostly includes commentaries (Duh !) for the
game. If you open a comm. file, you will see the minute on the
left side and the event on the right side. The comm. file includes
lots of different phrases for different events, just like in
Championship Manager. Therefore it is very interesting to be
read line by line, not knowing what is written on the next line
and feel the "tension" of a real game.
5.1.2 In the end of the commentary file, you will see the game
statistical summaries for each team. How many minutes each player
played, how many goals scored, assisted etc. You will also find
there the change of ability points as a result of the game.
5.1.3 Commentaries are custom: there is a special data file containing
all legal commentary lines in ESMS. Each league can modify this
file for its own needs.
5.1.4 As I said in the last paragraph, an administrator can freely
change the commentaries data file of his league and even translate
it to an other language. As a matter of fact, various international
versions of ESMS exist, such as Spanish, Italian, Latvian, Dutch
and more..
-----------------------------------
Eli Bendersky: spur@cyberdude.com
whatever other smart name you can make up for it).
It contains descriptive information about the ESMS
program and it's virtually impossible to start
using ESMS w/o reading it first.
********************************************
****** Section 1: General information ******
********************************************
1.0 BRIEF HISTORY
-----------------
The program was created by me (Eli Bendersky) and Igor
Oks. We started our soccer play-by-email way in 1998 in
a fantasy league called WWISL, which used spreadsheets
to 'run' games. This was extremely cumbersome and time
consuming, and the league fell apart short after starting.
But the people who participated in WWISL were left with
the feeling that this kind of a game may be successful.
Shortly after the WWISL fell apart, David Austin and
myself, formerly WWISL players, teamed up to create a new
play-by-email league, calling it the Global Internet
Soccer League (GISL). The GISL used a program named MSWL,
which was created by Allan Sellers to run its games, and
had 30 participants (team managers). GISL went through
all the difficult phases of a start-up league, but managed
to survive, and ran very successfully for 3 full seasons
(a bit longer than a calendar year). However, over that
time, the league developed some unique needs and features
that weren't covered by MSWL, and were handled manually.
This is about the time when we (my humble self and Igor)
decided to create a program of our own, which will both
answer the unique needs developed in GISL and be an
improvement of MSWL. We took our time during a break
we had in our University studies and in about a month
created the basic skeleton of ESMS. It then took a couple
of months of much less intensive work to create the final
form of the main (game running) program and the other
components, and ESMS was released in early 1999.
For the record, the first official ESMS game was run on
April 10th, 1999, in a test league we arranged with some
friends to test the program. The GISL started to use it
almost immediately after release, and it didn't take much
time for other leagues to pop-up using this program. Today,
ESMS is widely used in dozens of leagues, by thousands
of managers from all over the world.
Starting with about half a year after the release, Igor
has other, more important duties to devote his time to,
and since then only I offer support for ESMS, release
updates, fix bugs, add features etc. You can contact me
by email at spur@cyberdude.com
1.1 WHAT IS ESMS ?
-------------------
The ESMS program is a soccer management simulator for
play-by-email games. A play-by-email (PBEM) soccer game
usually consists of an administrator, who runs the
league, and managers, each managing one or more teams
in the league. The game is a PBEM version of many famous
management games, like the Premier Manager, Ultimate
FIFA manager, and of course the great Championship Manager
series. However, it only consists of the league running
part, which includes running a game between two teams
using their rosters and team sheets (see below for
details), updating the rosters using the after-game stats,
and updating the league table, using the results. All
other aspects of soccer management, eg. Player Transfers
should be developed by each league for its best use.
These aspects are easy to handle and need no computer
programs. This program was written especially not for a
specific league, but with possibility for many uses and
different ideas, using the same game engine.
It is important to note that whoever uses this program,
must understand the rules of soccer and know how is it
played.
1.2 WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN ORDER TO USE ESMS ?
---------------------------------------------
A simple answer to this question: nothing, just download it.
A longer answer: I believe in the idea of free software.
Free not only in the sense of "no money" but in the sense
of "fully available for anyone willing to get it, or it
sources". You can read more about these ideas on the FSF
(Free Software Foundation) website at www.fsf.org
Therefore, ESMS is allowed for free, under the very lenient
GNU Private License (I hope you didn't forget to read the
license.txt file)... Shortly, it means you don't have to
pay for ESMS and you can freely redistribute it. Moreover,
if you want to see the source code of ESMS (mixed C and
C++ code), ask me and I'll send it to you. So lets go back
to the short answer: just download the program and use it
for your pleasure.
1.3 WHAT IS THIS HELP FILE ABOUT ?
----------------------------------
1.3.1 This file explains all the concepts of ESMS, to both
the managers and the league administrators. Therefore, it is
absulotely compulsory for everyone who is interested in the
game to read this file from the beginning to the end in order
to understand how ESMS works and all its aspects in detail.
There is another help file, made especially for the administrator,
which explains in detail how to run the league and how to use
all the supplementary programs ESMS offers.
1.3.2 This file is divided into sections, which are divided
into paragraphs. There are many references from one paragraph
to another in the file, and it is easy to use. If you want
to find specific topics you can try searching by keywords,
eg. "injury", "ability", "tackle" etc.
*****************************************************
****** Section 2: Fundamental concepts & terms ******
*****************************************************
2.0 HOW IS A GAME PLAYED ?
--------------------------
2.0.1 A team in ESMS is represented by a "roster". A roster
is a text file in a special format, which includes all the
players of the team and their attributes.
2.0.2 A "team sheet" in ESMS is a text file which includes
orders for the game for each team. These orders include
the list of 11 starting players, 5 subs and various
commands for the program. The teamsheet is basically the
instructions each manager gives to his team before the game.
More on this in section 3.
2.0.3 To play a match each manager has to send the league
administrator a teamsheet with instructions for the match.
The administrator must have the rosters of the participating
teams. It is very important to note here that the game is
not run in "real-time", but all at once.
Meaning that a manager can't interfere on a specific minute
and tell the administrator to substitute a player or change
tactic. The manager's work is concluded by sending a teamsheet
with instructions to the admin.
All these instructions are included in the team sheet sent
by the managers in the correct format, the program reads these
insctuctions and implements them during the game.
After the game is finished, the program generates commentary
file for the game and the admin sends it to the managers
of the playing teams. The commentary files are discussed in
further detail in section 5.
Then, the adminn uses the various supplementary tools of ESMS
to update the rosters and the league table.
2.1 ROSTERS & PLAYERS
---------------------
If you look at a valid roster of ESMS, you will see a header
line and a list of players with a lot of numbers near them.
This section will explain exactly what each number means.
Lets take an example line from a roster file:
Name Age Nat St Tk Ps Sh Ag KAb TAb PAb SAb Gam Sav Ktk Kps Sht Gls Ass DP Inj Sus
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N_Amoruso 22 ita 2 4 6 10 26 300 420 550 690 5 0 2 4 12 4 0 8 0 0
2.1.1 Name: The name of the player. It's recommended not to
create names longer than 12 characters. The name of a player
mustn't include spaces, it is common to use underline '_'
symbol instead (placing the first letter of the first name
separated by '_' from the rest, ie. M_Owen or A_DelPiero).
2.1.2 Age: Player's age. Each league sets different rules for
player aging. The league may decide that each season each
player is getting older by one year, etc. The age is placed
in the roster with no use for the game running program and
needed only for statistics and rules set up by each league.
2.1.3 Nat: Player's nationality, abbreviated in 3 characters.
As the age, it is not used by the game running program and
placed in the roster only for statistics.
These three attributed were mostly for statistics, and didn't
really have any meaning to the program (except of maybe the
name, which must be the same in the roster and in the teamsheets,
to let ESMS recognize which players a manager wishes to use
in a game).
The rest of the attributes are used and changed by the program.
This is the right place to say that in ESMS the player has
no predifined position, and it is up to the manager to decide,
depending on the player's skills, where he want the player to
play in each game. A player can play as a goalkeeper (GK),
defender (DF), midfielder (MF) or forward (FW).
Now we'll move to the next attributes:
[same player pasted here to avoid hectic scrolling]
Name Age Nat St Tk Ps Sh Ag KAb TAb PAb SAb Gam Sav Ktk Kps Sht Gls Ass DP Inj Sus
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N_Amoruso 22 ita 2 4 6 10 26 300 420 550 690 5 0 2 4 12 4 0 8 0 0
2.1.4 St: Is the player's shot-stopping skill. In other words,
his goalkeeping skill. For the best performance, the manager
has to place the player with the highest St as the goalkeeper.
Of course the manager is not obligated to do so, and it is up
to him to consider.
2.1.5 Tk: Is the player's tackling skill. Mostly used by players
playing in the defense.
2.1.6 Ps: Is the player's passing skill. Mostly used by players
in the midfield, for creating opportunities and assisting goals.
2.1.7 Sh: Is the player's shooting skill. It defines the player's
skill to shot to goal and reach these shooting chances.
Note: From what you can see on the player in the example, his
highest skill is shooting. Therefore this player will perform
his best as a forward. Of course he can play in any position
if needed, even as goalkeeper, but his contribution will be
worse than as a forward.
2.1.8 Ag: Is the player's aggression. The aggression of a player
doesn't change, it stays the same for his whole career. In ESMS
the aggression is a value between 1 and 100 and it defines how
aggressive a player plays. More on aggression can be read in
paragraph 4.3.1
2.1.9 KAb, TAb, PAb, SAb: Player ability for each skill. A
number ranging from 0 to 1000 and can affect the player's
skills. Abilities vary from game to game depending on the
player's performance.
2.1.10 Gam: Simply the amount of games the player played. If the
player participated in a game, even if he played a single
minute, it will be counted as an another game when the
admin runs the roster updating tool.
2.1.11 Sv: The total amount of saves the player made. Only if the
player played as a goalkeeper he can make saves.
2.1.12 Ktk: The total amount of key tackles the player made to stop
scoring opportunities. Usually defenders will make the highest
amount of tackles, but midfielders and forwards tackle sometimes
too.
2.1.13 Kps: The total amount of key passes made by the player to
create goalscoring opportunities.
2.1.14 Sht: The total amount of shots to goal taken by the player.
2.1.15 Gls: The total amount of goals scored by the player.
2.1.16 Ass: The total amount of assists made by the player.
2.1.17 Dp: The total amount of disciplinary points accumulated by
the player. Disciplinary Points (DP) are "accumulated" when a
player gets yellow/red cards. More on DP in section 4.4
2.1.18 Inj: If a player isn't currently injured, Inj is 0. If
a player is injured, it indicates the amount of weeks he can't
play.
2.1.19 Sus: If a player isn't currently suspended, Sus is 0. If
a player is suspended, it indicates the amount of games he can't
play. More on this in section 4.4
Note the difference between "weeks" for Inj and "games" for
suspensions... Think about this in "real life" terms: It is common
to play league games once a week, with cup games in the middle
of the week. A player is injured for a certain amount of time
(eg. if he's injured for a week, he'll miss one game in a normal
league run, but he'll miss more games if some cup games were
played during the week), but suspended for an amount of games.
You should keep this in mind while planning your league.
2.2 PLAYER POSITIONS
--------------------
As was stated earlier, a player in ESMS doesn't have a pre-
defined position. The manager will have to decide where to
play a player in a game.
The ESMS system has 4 possible positions for players:
GK: Goalkeepers, only one GK is allowed to play at the same time
DF: Defender
MF: Midfielder
FW: Forward
Each league must decide for itself the restrictions on the
maximum and/or minimal number of DF's, MF's and FW's which
can play at the same time.
2.3 PLAYERS' "ACTUAL" SKILLS DURING THE GAME
--------------------------------------------
As you saw in section 2.1, each player in ESMS has 4 different
skills + aggression. These are his "raw skills", and he won't
always play with the same skill in a game. An "actual skill",
is the players's raw skill after some mathematical operations,
which depend on tactics and player's fatigue during the game
(more on fatigue in paragraph 4.2.1).
In any case, if 2 different players have different raw skills, and
they both play with the same conditions in the game (position
and the tactic of the team), then the player with the higher
raw skill will have a higher actual skill.
Aggression of the player stays the same during the course of
a game. The "Shot Stopping" (St) ability doesn't change either
(affected only by fatigue).
How do actual skills depend on player's position ?
A player which plays as defender will never use his full
shooting potential, as being a defender he will get almost
no chances to score. It also depends on the tactic of the team,
but it can be generally said that the full raw skill of the
player will be preserved only if the player plays on a suitable
position. For example if a player with Tk2, Ps4 and Sh10 playing
in the defense will have a defensive skill of 2 (it also depends
on the tactic, of course), but his actual Ps and Sh will be less
than the raw values. Therefore, a player with skills Tk4 Ps3 Sh3
will be more efficient as a defender, despite being a generally
worse player than the first one.
Players with more than one high skill will be extremely useful
as they will be able to perform well in several positions.
2.4 TEAM TACTICS
----------------
Each manager may choose a tactic for his team for a game.
The tactic can be changed during the game by suitable
instructions in the teamsheets.
This is the listing of possible tactics in ESMS:
2.4.1 N: Normal. No specific style of play, just normal game,
trying to use all parts of the team in the most suitable way.
2.4.2 D: Defensive. Focusing more on the defense. D is hard to
score against, but won't create many opportunities either,
it is the most defensive tactic. Midfielders and even
forwards will pay more attention to the defense.
2.4.3 A: Attacking. The most offensive tactic. The players try
to score as much as possible, effectively neglecting the defense.
This tactic may get you to score more goals but also concede
quite a few...
2.4.4 P: Passing. The team tries to move the ball quickly using
a lot of passes, even when these are not really needed. More
players try to help in the midfield to create slow but
efficient opportunities. This tactic is more offensive than
Normal but less offensive than Attacking.
2.4.5 C: Counter attack. The players concentrate on the defense,
while the forwards are waiting for counter-opportunities.
This tactic is more defensive than Normal but not as defensive
as D.
2.4.6 L: Long Ball. The most intriguing and unexpected tactic.
Can easily win a game with some circumstances, and completely
fail with other. The midfield is almost unsignificant, as
the team tries to defend and reach the forwards with long
balls. Thus, this tactic is especially useful for teams with
weak midfielders, and against some tactics/formations can
prove to be a lethal weapon.
Note: Each tactic, except of Normal has some bonuses against
some other tactics, which makes the decisions more
complicated and challenging. The bonuses table is below. It
also includes the 'Bonus type', which tells where is the
bonus added. xxx = for admins eyes only.
Tactic Against Bonus type
----------------------------------------------------------
Normal (N) None None
Defensive (D) xxx xxx
Attacking (A) xxx xxx
Cnt. Attack (C) xxx xxx
Long Ball (L) xxx xxx
Passing (P) xxx xxx
Conclusion: As you can see, the bonuses table is rather
complicated, and you can benefit a lot from predicting
correctly which tactic your opponent uses. If you aren't certain
about which tactic your opponent uses, you can play the
Normal tactic, as no other tactics has bonuses against it.
Each manager will eventually have some "repertoire" of
tactics for every case, when you must win, when you
must not lose, etc...
2.5 TEAM FORMATIONS
--------------------
ESMS has no pre-defined formations for teams. The formation
is simply the amount of DF's/MF's and FW's, so it is clear
that a team with 3 defenders, 4 midfielders and 3 forwards
plays a 3-4-3 formation. As stated above, the program itself
poses no restrictions on the maximal/minimal amount of players
in each position, each league must define these restrictions
for itself. It is highly reccomended for each league to do
so, in order not to have unusual situations, ie. a game
between two teams with a 8-1-1 formation can be very
boring, and it is doubtful if any scoring opportunities
will be created.
Each manager decides on his favourite formation either
by his players' skills (if for example his team hasn't
almost any good forwards, he will prefer formations with
fewer players in the attack) or if a manager feels that
a specific formation+tactic just "works well" for his
team and sticks to it.
Tactics and formation are very much linked, not by the
program (ESMS doesn't mind which tactic/formation you
play) but by the manager himself. It would be, of course,
bizzare to play 2-2-6 Defensive, as the formation and
the tactic contradict each other.
***********************************************
****** Section 3: Team sheets and orders ******
***********************************************
3.0 INTRODUCTION
----------------
As was stated before, a manager has to send a "team
sheet" for each game. The team sheet includes a list
of players and subs for the game, and various "orders"
to the program, explaining how to manage the team in
different situations. This section describes in detail
how to compose a team sheet and presents all the
various options a manager has in composing it.
3.1 WHICH "ORDERS" CAN A MANAGER INCLUDE IN THE TEAM SHEET ?
------------------------------------------------------------
Except of the list of players, the manager includes
various orders in the team sheet, which are actually
the instructions for the game. If a manager learns to
use these orders correctly and understands them, they
can be an important step to guarantee his team's
success. These are the different orders a manager can
give, with explanations:
3.1.1 Tactic for the game: The manager gives the program a
starting tactic his team will play. See above for a
detailed explanation about tactics.
3.1.2 Penatly kick taker: The manager names the primary penalty
kick taker for the game. If the player will be unavailable
when a penalty occurs (being suspended or injured before
that minute) the program will assign a penalty kick taker
by itself.
3.1.3 Conditionals: The conditionals are orders to the program,
telling it what to do in different situations which may arise
in the game.
The conditionals depend on the minute and/or the score
of the game.
The conditional orders are as follows: Change the tactic,
substitute one player for another and change the position
of a specific player. The conditional orders are given
by a set of key words, which will be discussed in detail
in the next paragraph of this section.
Now, the technical aspect of a team sheet will be discussed,
exactly how to write it... followed by examples.
3.2 A TEAM SHEET TEMPLATE
-------------------------
Below is a template for a team sheet in ESMS:
`````````````````````````````````
[Team name] /* The name of your roster, without the ".txt" extension
[Tactic] /* A single character specifying your starting tactic
GK [Player name] /* The first player in the team sheet must be a GK
[Pos] [Name] /* Here the other 10 starting players are listed,
[Pos] [Name] /* instead of [Pos] is written the position, which is
[Pos] [Name] /* either a DF, MF or FW, and the player's name
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name] /* These are the 5 subs for the game, again their
[Pos] [Name] /* position and name are stated
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
PK: [Player name] /* The primary PK taker. Must be one of the 16 listed !
[Odrer] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* [Order] and [Arguments] is
[Odrer] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* exactly what do.
[Odrer] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* [Condition] is the condition
[Odrer] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* for the order exacution.
... /* More info below.
...
...
`````````````````````````````````
3.3 ORDERS AND CONDITIONS
-------------------------
Important Note: In the orders, the players are
referred not by their names, but by their numbers.
The number of the player is simply his position if
you count players in a teamsheet from top to bottom.
Thus, the GK is number 1, the last player in the
opening squad is number 11, the first listed sub is
number 12, the last listed sub is number 16, I
hope you got the idea
We start with the orders and their arguments.
There are 3 different orders available:
3.3.1 TACTIC: Agrument - [NewTactic] in a single character,
is the order to change the tactic of the team to a
given tactic. For example: TACTIC L
Switches to long ball when the condition comes true.
A manager can include up to 15 conditions on tactic
change.
3.3.2 CHANGEPOS: Arguments - [PlayerNumber] [NewPosition].
Tells the program to swith the position of some
player to a new position. Place the player number
and the new position after the order. For example:
CHANGEPOS 11 DF tells the program to swith the player
number 11 to defender when the condition comes true.
A manager can include up to 15 conditions on position
change.
3.3.3 SUB: Arguments - [Pl.OutNumber] [Pl.InNumber] [Position]
Tells the program to substitute some player for another,
and play the substituter on a given position. The plyers
are again referred by numbers, It is important to put
the numbers in the correct order. For example: SUB 10 14 FW
will substitute the player number 10 to player number 14
and the sub (n.14) will play forward, when the condition
comes true. As the rules of soccer state, only 3
substitutions are allowed per team per game. A common
mistake is forgetting the [position] argument of this order.
You must specify the position, ESMS won't choose it for you.
Now the conditions will be explained. The condition comes
right after the order in the same line.
3.3.4 IF MIN = [Minute]: Pretty simple here. If the game reached
the stated minute, the order will be executed.
For example: CHANGEPOS 2 MF IF MIN = 56 will change the
position of player number 2 to midfielder on the 56'th
minute.
3.3.5 IF SCORE = [Score]: The [Score] argument is a SINGLE NUMBER
which stands for the differense in score between your team
and the opponent. 2 is leading by 2 goals, -6 is losing by
6 goals ets. For example:
TACTIC A IF SCORE = -1 means that the team will switch to
attacking tactic if is loses by one goal.
3.3.6 IF BOTH MIN [Sign] [Minute] SCORE [Sign] [Score]: The most
complicated and powerful condition in the game. The order
exacution can depend both on the score and the minute of
the game. The [Sign] argument can be either = , >= or =<
which gives this conditional an enormous flexibility. A
few examples:
TACTIC A IF BOTH MIN >= 45 SCORE =< -1 tells the program
to change tactic to attacking if it is later than the 45'th
minute and your team is losing by one or more goals.
CHANGEPOS 2 MF IF BOTH MIN =< 20 SCORE >= 1 tells the
program to switch player number 2 to midfielder if it
is earlier than the 20'th minute and your team leads by
one or more goals.
3.4 EXAMPLES OF TEAM SHEETS
---------------------------
In this section you'll find 2 complete teamsheets, with
comments:
Example 1
```````````````````````````````````````
bar /* Team name. The roster is therefore bar.txt
N /* Starting the game with a N (Normal) tactic
GK R_Hesp /* The first player is always a GK
DF J_Guardiola
DF F_De_Boer
DF M_Nadal
DF B_Sergi
MF L_Figo
MF Rivaldo
MF L_Enrique
MF R_De_Boer
FW S_Anderson
FW P_Kluivert /* The 10 field players were listed (formation: 4-4-2)
GK Vitor_Baia /* These are the 5 subs for the game
MF F_Abelardo
DF A_Celades
DF W_Bogarde
FW Giovanni
PK: S_Anderson /* S_Anderson is the primary penalty taker
TACTIC A IF BOTH MIN = 55 SCORE =< -1 /* If we're losing on min 55, play attacking
SUB 11 16 FW IF MIN = 60 /* Sub player 11 for player 16 on min 60
CHANGEPOS 8 DF IF SCORE = 1 /* If we lead by a goal, player 8 will play DF
TACTIC D IF SCORE = 2 /* If we lead by 2 goals, play defensive
```````````````````````````````````````
Example 2
```````````````````````````````````````
juv /* Team name. Therefore the roster is juv.txt
L /* Play long ball
GK A_Peruzzi /* First player is a GK
DF M_Iuliano
DF I_Tudor
DF Z_Mirkovic
DF G_Pessotto
MF D_Dechamps
MF A_Conte
FW Z_Zidane
FW T_Henry
FW N_Amoruso
FW A_Del_Piero /* Listed the field players. (formation: 4-2-4)
GK M_Rampulla
MF P_Montero
DF C_Ferrara
DF A_Tachinardi
FW J_Esnaider /* Listed 5 subs
PK: A_Del_Piero /* A_Del_Piero will take the penalties
SUB 6 13 MF IF MIN = 75 /* Sub pl.6 for pl.13 on the 75th minute
TACTIC C IF SCORE = 1 /* As you can see these 3 orders are for the
CHANGEPOS 8 DF IF SCORE = 1 /* same condition and tell the program to
CHANGEPOS 9 MF IF SCORE = 1 /* switch to 5-3-2 counter attack if leading
/* by one goal.
```````````````````````````````````````
*****************************************************
****** Section 4: Other components of the game ******
*****************************************************
4.0 WHAT IS THIS SECTION ABOUT ?
--------------------------------
This section is to complete the full picture of ESMS,
discussion on all other aspects and components of the game,
and detailed explanation on some important terms.
4.1 PLAYER'S ABILITY
--------------------
4.1.1 Apart from the 4 skills each player has (St, Tk, Ps
and Sh), he also has an ability value for each skill. Ability
is basically a number between 0 and 1000 which is measuring
the performance of the players in the recent time. If the
ability of a player reaches 1000, he has a skill increase.
When a player has a skill increase, his ability drops to about
300.
4.1.2 If a player's ability reaches 0, he will have a skill
decrease. The ability will then be set to 300.
4.1.3 There are many opportunities for an ability being increased
or decreased during the game. The number of points added or
deducted for each event can be defined by each league for
itself. Below is the list of "events" for which ability is
changed:
4.1.4 Goal: A player will get an ability increase
for each scored goal.
4.1.5 Assist: A player will get an ability increase
for each goal he assisted.
4.1.6 Ktk, Kps, Sht_On, Sht_Off: A player will get an
ability increase for each key tackle, key pass, or shot
(on or off target) to goal he will take. These bonuses
are usually much lower than the bonuses for goal and
assist.
4.1.7 Save: The goalkeeper will receive ability
points for each save he makes in the game.
4.1.8 Clean sheet: If a team doesn't concede a goal
during the game, the goalkeeper and one of the defenders
will receive an ability increase. If the goalkeeper was
substituted during the game, the goalkeeper who played
more will get the ability increase. The defender will
be chosen in random.
4.1.9 Victory: If a team wins the game, two of its players
will be given an ability increase. The two players are
chosen randomly.
4.1.10 Defeat: It is the only case when ability points
are decreased. If a team loses a game, two of its players
lose ability points. These players are chosen randomly.
Note: For more flexibility, the number of ability points
increased/decreased can be changed by the league
administrator to fit the needs of his particular league.
4.2 PLAYER'S FATIGUE
--------------------
4.2.1 It is natural that soccer players are getting tired
during the game. All players are getting tired, some less,
some more. This fatigue always affects a player's way of
playing. Close to the end of the game, a player will have
much less ability for long runs than in the beginning.
The feature of fatigue is also included in ESMS. Each
minute, the program multiplyes each player's actual skills
by a small coefficient. Until the end of the game, fatigue
is accumulated and the player plays at approximately 70 - 75
percent of his starting skill. This is why it is highly
recommended to substitute players during the game, to bring
some "fresh feet" to your team.
4.3 PLAYER AGGRESSION AND TEAM AGGRESSION
-----------------------------------------
4.3.1 As you already know from paragraph 2.1.8, each player
in ESMS has an aggression level. The aggression is a number
which ranges from 1 to 100 and it is not changed during the
player's career. The more aggressive player will make more
fouls, which might lead to bookings or even suspensions.
4.3.2 During the game, the program calculates the total
aggression of a team each minute. The total aggression has
two sides: On one hand, it adds the team some aspect of
"more will to play" and the more aggressive team plays better
than the less aggressive team (however the differense is very
small). On the other hand, the more aggressive team will make
more fouls which may result in penalties and bookings for its
players.
Note: Generally, the aggression is a "negative" skill of the
player and a team. The less aggressive player is better. However
all this is much less significant than the 4 skills of the player.
4.4 FOULS, BOOKINGS, AND DP'S
-----------------------------
4.4.1 During the game, each team usually makes a lot of fouls,
most of them are unsignificant, just to stop the attack of the
opponent. Fouls is an important feature included in ESMS and
they might lead to many possible consequences. The program takes
care only of the "serious" fouls, which deserve a warning or
a card shown to the player.
4.4.2 For some of the fouls the players will receive yellow
cards.
4.4.3 Two yellow cards in the same game or a red card shown to
the player cause his sending off the pitch, and will leave his
team with one player less. If a goalkeeper gets a red card, the
program will automatically replace him with the most suitable
player, which will cause a player less in other part of the
field.
4.4.4 Disciplinary points are included in ESMS as well. A player
receives a certain amount of DP for a yellow cards and another
for red cards. The number of DP's for each card can be defined
by each league for itself. These DP's, when accumulate can cause
to a player's suspension. The exact numbers for that can be set
by each league for its best use.
Note: The default in ESMS is 4 DP for a yellow card and 10 DP
for a red card. When a player reaches a total of 10 DP he will
suspended for one game, when he reaches 20 DP, for two games
and so on.
4.5 SUSPENSIONS
---------------
4.5.1 As was said in the previous section, accumulation of
disciplinary points can lead to a suspension of the player
for the certain amount of games. If you look at the "Sus"
column in the team roster you will see there for how many
games the player is currently suspended. The league runner
will have a special program to take care that this number
will be decreased by 1 after each game, so the manager will
always see how many games can't the player play.
4.6 PENALTIES
-------------
4.6.1 Some of the fouls may cause a penalty kick for the opposite
team. The penalty kick will be taken by the named primary PK
taker in the team sheet. If the player is unavailable in that
moment, being substituted or suspended before, the program will
assign another player to take the spot kick.
4.7 INJURIES
------------
4.7.1 During the game, there is always a chance that a player will
get injured. If a player in ESMS gets injured, the program will
substitute him for another player on his position from the bench.
If there will be no player on his position on the bench, the
program will find any other substitute for the player. If by
the time the injury occured the team already had 3 substitutions,
the player will leave the field and the team will remain with
one player less.
4.7.2 A player gets injured for a certain amount of weeks. This
is not defined by the game running program itself, but by the
updating program the league administrator will use to update
the rosters. After the update, in the "Inj" column of the player
will appear the number of WEEKS the player can't play.
The league administrator will use a special updating program
to decrease this number by 1 each week, so after the update the
manager will see for how many more weeks can't his player play.
4.8 KEEPING A LARGE SQUAD
-------------------------
4.8.1 It is highly recommended for each manager to keep a large
squad of players. As you saw in the last sections, a player
can get injured or suspended for several games or weeks, players
also get tired during the game and need to be substituted. These
are the problems the manager of real soccer team has to handle
every game. Having a small squad can cause you a lot of trouble
in running your team.
4.9 PLAYER'S AGE
----------------
4.9.1 Each player in ESMS has an age. The program doesn't
really need this value for anything, it is just for statistics.
Each league will set its own rules for the ages. Some examples of
uses are: A player is getting older by a year after the end of
each season; When the player reaches the age of 35 he retires.
4.10 HOME BONUS
---------------
4.10.1 When a team plays at its home ground, it has an advantage
over the opponent. The players know their ground better and the
crowd is supporting. Hence there is an indepentent home bonus
in ESMS, which can be defined by each league for itself. It means
that if two absolutely even teams, with the same skill players,
same formations and tactict, the home team has more chanses to
win the game. (The addition is relatively small, though)
*****************************************************
****** Section 5: The commentary file in ESMS ******
*****************************************************
5.0 COMMENTARY FILE NAME
------------------------
5.0.1 For the comfort of the league administrator and the manager,
the commentary file game consists of the names of the playing
teams. For example if juv and bar played the game, the commentary
file will be called juv_bar.txt
Another file will be created from that game, which is needed only
to the updating program.
5.1 WHAT DOES A COMMENTARY FILE INCLUDE ?
-----------------------------------------
5.1.1 A commentary file mostly includes commentaries (Duh !) for the
game. If you open a comm. file, you will see the minute on the
left side and the event on the right side. The comm. file includes
lots of different phrases for different events, just like in
Championship Manager. Therefore it is very interesting to be
read line by line, not knowing what is written on the next line
and feel the "tension" of a real game.
5.1.2 In the end of the commentary file, you will see the game
statistical summaries for each team. How many minutes each player
played, how many goals scored, assisted etc. You will also find
there the change of ability points as a result of the game.
5.1.3 Commentaries are custom: there is a special data file containing
all legal commentary lines in ESMS. Each league can modify this
file for its own needs.
5.1.4 As I said in the last paragraph, an administrator can freely
change the commentaries data file of his league and even translate
it to an other language. As a matter of fact, various international
versions of ESMS exist, such as Spanish, Italian, Latvian, Dutch
and more..
-----------------------------------
Eli Bendersky: spur@cyberdude.com