Manual
From CMOpedia
Contents |
Overview
Championship Manager Online or CM-Online for short is a football manager game that kicks off in reality. Your task as manager for a European football team is to lead the club to success in the domestic league as well as in the European Cups. CM-Online is a multiplayer Internet-based network game. To ensure that all managers have the same opportunity to make their moves, the game is turn-based. This means that all managers have to complete their changes before a certain point in time. Usually, the game is closed for few hours at night, and during that time the system is updated. During the update, all the changes made by managers are executed, all games are played, trainings performed, and so on. When the update is complete, the game is reopened so that the managers can see the results of the update and prepare for the next turn. Some updates are done continuously, so it pays to log in frequently to check the latest news and negotiate with other managers about the purchasing and selling of players, etc. You could start playing right away, but we recommend that you start off by reading through this manual to quickly become a good manager. The more you play, the more you will discover about the depth of the game: how many different strategies and tactics there are, and how important the “game behind the scenes is” – just like in real life!
Game Time
In CM-Online, game time follows this pattern. A season is long enough for all teams in a league to play each other twice, plus a few more weeks for pre-season practice. The first CM-Online season thus starts on the CM-date “Season 1, Week 1, Day 1”, and typically ends on the CM-date “Season 1, Week 22, Day 7”. The following season starts the day after. League games are played twice a week. The financial status of each club is updated daily. National cup games are played on a different weekday than the league games, and may vary between countries and seasons.
The Calendar
Whenever you log in to your team, you will be presented with the calendar, showing the current week and the following week. It can also be accessed by clicking Office – Calendar. Today’s date is highlighted in orange. You will see every planned event on the respective dates. If you wish to schedule a friendly, or set the training for the day, simply click the respective links on the day in question. If you wish to change what weeks are shown, either click the white arrows on the blue bar just above the daily events, or click the vertical blue bar “monthly view” to the left in order to bring out the monthly overview.
Payment
To participate in CM-Online, you have to pay a monthly subscription. The longer the period you choose to pay for, the cheaper it becomes. For instance, if you sign up for a year, you will receive a substantial discount. It pays to pay for a longer period of time.
| Sub Length | GBP | SEK |
|---|---|---|
| One month | £3.99 | 59:- |
| One Quarter | £9.99 | 139:- |
| Six Months | £18.99 | 249:- |
| One Year | £34.99 | 469:- |
The Different Worlds
The game consists of different worlds. When each CM-Online world starts, it mirrors the real world in the way it looks at that time. This means that all the players in the teams that make up the world play for the same teams that they do in the real world, and that they have the same ages and stats, etc. Once the world has started, it will be modified by all the playing managers, so the world will not necessarily resemble the real world for long. In each world, there is only one instance of each team, for instance, only one Manchester United or Real Madrid. It is important to know that events in one world do not influence other worlds. Each world has a level and number, such as “Bronze World 1”, or “Silver World 15”. If you want to play against your friends, you have to make sure that you all choose to play in the same world. New worlds are opened and started at a rate that depends on the number of new managers. Each world has about 550 teams, and you can choose to be the manager of any one of approximately 200 of those. The other teams play in leagues that aren’t as interesting to most people. They will be managed by the game engine, and will show up in international cups. You can also buy players from these teams, so it will pay to have a look around in teams that are not run by a human manager.
CM-Online – Manager Career
One of your goals as manager is to do so well that you earn a promotion and thus can take on greater challenges. Your manager level depends on your experience and how well you perform depending on the ground value of your team.
The level of a team is determined by the size of the club and how popular the teams are. There are more level 4 teams than level 5 ones, more level 3 than level 4, and so on.
All new managers start with 0 manager points and are therefore able to choose teams at level 1-3. If you have started in a trial world you can bring a maximum of 250 manager points when converting to a paying account, thus starting with more than 0 manager points.
World Hierarchy
CM-Online has a hierarchical structure of worlds, and each manager belongs to a certain world type. At the bottom of the pyramid, there are Bronze Worlds. As a new manager, you start playing in a Bronze World, from which you can work your way up by proving that you are a good manager and collecting manager points. This will increase your level, and you will get the chance to apply for jobs in clubs with better ground value or more popularity. The highest team level for Bronze Worlds is level 5.
| Experience | Level | Examples of Teams in a Bronze World |
|---|---|---|
| 1000 | 5 | Milan, Real Madrid |
| 750 | 4 | Arsenal, Manchester United, Roma |
| 0 | 3 | Werder Bremen, Schalke, Bayer 04 |
| 0 | 2 | Sampdoria, Udinese, Palermo |
| 0 | 1 | Strasbourg, Nantes, Toulouse |
When you advance beyond level 5 in Bronze world, you can choose to apply for work in a Silver World club. There are much fewer Silver Worlds than Bronze Worlds. In the Silver Worlds, competition is fiercer, and you will have to struggle against other skilled managers who have also chosen the challenge of trying to be successful in a Silver World. Once you have made the step up to a Silver World, you cannot go back to playing in Bronze Worlds with that account, if you have cloned that account. More on cloned accounts on page 12.
| Experience | Level | Examples of Teams in a Bronze World |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 5 | Milan, Real Madrid |
| 100 | 4 | Liverpool, Newcastle, Roma |
| 0 | 3 | Wolfsburg, Hamburg, Hertha Berlin |
| 0 | 2 | Sampdoria, Lecce, Palermo |
| 0 | 1 | Strasbourg, Nantes, Nice |
A manager can always apply for positions in teams at their own level and below, assuming that the world type matches.
As the game continues to develop, more worlds are added at each level of the hierarchy, and occasionally, a new level in the hierarchy is added at the top, where only those managers who have gathered the most manager points are allowed to play.
Match Points
Each team in the game has a ground value (starting value) which is determined on the basis of the squad, home arena, financial status, etc. These are the basic parameters that you base your decision on whether to start managing the team or not. Based on the ground value of your team, and the current value of the opposing team, the match points for a game are calculated. After a game, the successful manager gains a certain number of manager points. Winning a match is always considered a success. A draw is a moderate success. When there’s a draw, both teams are awarded points. The points awarded are one third of what you would have gained from a win. You get more points for a large win than a small one. Also, winning as the underdog awards you more points than winning when you are expected to. In order to be awarded match points, you must have prepared the tactics for the game in advance. This means that you have to be active as a manager in order to do well.
The manager point system is designed to promote long-term building. This is illustrated through the way match points are calculated.
Every team has a number of values connected with it, in order to make this calculation. First, there's the starting team value that is the team value that the club had when the manager took it over. Then there is the current team value of the club, and last there's the sliding team value that moves from the starting value towards to the current value. The sliding value is used to calculate the manager points received from the matches.
The sliding value will move from the starting value towards the current value, but never reach a higher value than 80% of the current team value. This means in practicality that 20% of the current team value is 'protected', and will always be useful for the manager in terms of generating more points in the matches. For that reason, improving your team is always beneficial and will give you more points on both the short and long term. The point of the system is to prevent managers from creating a great team and reaping huge rewards every month for years to come, and instead forcing them to continue to improve and evolve their teams in order to stay competitive.
Manager Points
Manager points are calculated as the sum of the best team per manager per world level. Example: John has Stoke in world #1, a Bronze World, Chelsea in world #2, also a Bronze World, and Villarreal in world #5, a Silver World. His manager points are calculated as such: the points from whichever team out of Stoke and Chelsea has gained the most points (but not the points from the other team) , plus the points he has gained with Villarreal. Only one team per level of the world can count, so if you have 5 teams all in Bronze Worlds you are not optimising your manager points. Of course, you may be building for the future.
Your manager points and level can be found on your business card.
Example of career moves
Curtis is a manager who starts the game with 0 points. He chooses the level 2 team Stoke, and starts the game. Curtis is an active and successful manager, and after three weeks he has accumulated 279 points! If he wanted to, Curtis could now apply for a job in a level 2 team, but he decides to wait since he is doing so well with Stoke. A few weeks later, Curtis is at 822 points with Stoke. He notices that Newcastle is free in another world and applies, thinking that he wants to take on the more experienced managers. He is lucky and gets the job! In a Bronze World that means that he can stay as manager for Newcastle as long as he likes. However, be aware, in higher level worlds it is possible to get fired for doing a bad job!
Championships, Manager of the Month and Competitions
Example of career moves Curtis is a manager who starts the game with 0 points. He chooses the level 2 team Stoke, and starts the game. Curtis is an active and successful manager, and after three weeks he has accumulated 279 points! If he wanted to, Curtis could now apply for a job in a level 2 team, but he decides to wait since he is doing so well with Stoke. A few weeks later, Curtis is at 822 points with Stoke. He notices that Newcastle is free in another world and applies, thinking that he wants to take on the more experienced managers. He is lucky and gets the job! In a Bronze World that means that he can stay as manager for Newcastle as long as he likes. However, be aware, in higher level worlds it is possible to get fired for doing a bad job!
Manager of the Month
No matter which league or world you play in, you will be competing against other managers through the match points system. The total amount of match points that you have scored with your present team during the present month is compared to all the other managers belonging to worlds of the same level. The manager with the highest score at the end of the month becomes Manager of the Month. Note that if you change clubs during the month, your score is set to zero – only the match points for your present club are counted.
Bronze World s and Silver Worlds have separate Manager of the Month competitions. If you play in a Bronze World team, your performance is compared to that of other Bronze World managers, and if you play in a Silver World, you are compared with the other Silver Worlds. This means that each month, one Bronze World manager and one Silver World manager becomes Manager of the Month.
The Manager of the Month is knighted and will become a member of the most excellent order of CM-Online. He or she also gets interviewed and will have their own page in the Hall of Fame.
It may seem that the Manager of the Month system favours the bigger teams, since they normally play a larger number of games each month. However, due to the fact that smaller clubs have lower ground values, they have better opportunities to get larger scores than the bigger clubs, so this evens out the playing field a bit. During some calendar months, your world might have a seasonal break, which of course reduces your chances that month. However, during other calendar months, your world will be in full swing, while others have breaks, so this too evens out over time.
You can see your position and score under the “Rankings – M.O.M” menu alternative in the game.
Manager of the Year
Those managers who are appointed Manager of the Month are automatically qualified for the competition for the title of Manager of the Year. This is the final, where the best manager of all is crowned! Exactly how this competition is done varies from year to year, but in-depth knowledge of the game is always the basis for the competition.
Champ Man
The Champ Man ranking is where you will find the best managers in the game. The object of the ranking is to reward skill over time, while still allowing new managers a chance of becoming the Champ Man within a couple of months, should they prove skilled enough. The system is rather complex. This is how it works:
The ranking is updated every week. Every week all managers are ranked according to their results that week. A user is ranked by the best score from all of his teams, no matter what level world. The result is measured in manager points (MPs). The managers are then listed relatively (regardless of the actual MP gathered) and given ranking points according to a preset scale. For example, the manager who gathers the most MPs one week will get 100 ranking points for the Champ Man ranking (this is not to be confused with the normal manager points).
The manager has a number of ranking points at the beginning of each week. 20% of those points are then removed when the ranking update is run. To replace the removed points, the new points gathered that week are being added. Hence, the formula looks like this:
New_Points = Old_Points * 0,8 + Points_According_To_Week_Rank
Once the managers have received their new calculated values, they are listed accordingly (again, regardless of actual points). The Champ Man title is then awarded to the first manager on the list, and the other titles are dealt out accordingly depending on the number of participants. The more managers that are participating, the more titles of every sort are dealt out.
The New_Points value as calculated above will be the Old_Points value into next week´s equation In order for the Champ Man ranking to reflect the managing skill over time, rather than just a series of successful buys (say from the free transfer list) and then capitalizing on them forever after, the team value will change with every ranking update.
Every team has a number of values connected with it, in order to make this calculation. First, there's the starting team value that is the team value that the club had when the manager took it over. Then theres the current team value of the club, and last there's the sliding team value that moves from the starting value towards to the current value. The sliding value is used to calculated the manager points received from the matches, and therefore also the Champ Man ranking.
The sliding value will move from the starting value towards the current value, but never reach a higher value than 80% of the current team value. This means in practicality that 20% of the current team value is 'protected', and will always be useful for the manager in terms of generating more points in the matches. For that reason, improving your team is always beneficial and will give you more points on both the short and long term. The point of the system is to prevent managers from creating a great team and reaping huge rewards every month for years to come, and instead forcing them to continue to improve and evolve their teams in order to stay competitive.
Manager Attributes
As manager, you have a few attributes that will change over the course of the game depending on how well you play. These attributes are: Club Loyalty, Coaching, and Team Building. High values in each of these attributes are good, since Club Loyalty is part of the reason why clubs might choose you as their manager, and they are all proof of your performance (in addition to your manager points).
Club Loyalty
This attribute increases the longer you stay in the same club. It decreases when you change clubs.
Coaching
This attribute changes depending on your performance in the games you play. If you succeed in winning against a theoretically stronger team, your Coaching attribute will increase, but if you fail to meet expectations, your Coaching attribute will go down.
Team Building
This attribute indicates how well the club board feels you perform when it comes to long-term building of strong teams. The goal is not just to create a strong team formation, but also to improve the financial status and long-term prospects of the club. A while after changing clubs, your team building with the new club is evaluated and this value can then change dramatically (for better or worse).
Looking for Jobs and Changing Clubs
Sometimes a manager wants to find new challenges and look for work in a new club. All administration of different accounts and job applications is done from the Account Overview part of the game. This is the first page you are taken after the log in page.
CM-Online
As manager you can apply for a new job in a team with a level that is the same as, or lower than your manager level. With a new account, you always have access to the team you choose, so that you will always have the chance to start playing immediately. These teams are level 1, 2 or 3. If a manager wishes to change the team for one of their accounts, he or she has to apply for the position in the new club. The selection available is dependant on the amount of manager points. A club can of course get more than one application for an open job, and the board will make up their mind during the next nightly update. The selection process is described below in section Job Application Selection Criteria.
The Seven-Day Rule – Version One
A manager who has received a new job cannot use the same account to apply for another job within seven days. If, on the other hand, a manager applies for a job but is rejected in favour of another manager, he or she can still apply for a new one the next day.
A finished account – a manager who closes their account cannot start playing again until seven days have passed.
A new account – the manager will automatically and immediately get the first job he or she applies for.
A cloned account – the manager applies for jobs in the normal way, as with the original account.
The Seven-Day Rule – Version Two
A manager who has recently changed teams (i.e. not taken up his first job ever) is not allowed to take major decisions for team, including buying, selling, sacking or loaning players. This is because the club’s board would like to see him prove himself as a manager before making long term changes. It also gives the manager a chance to get to know his team a bit better before doing something he might regret at a later point.
Inactivity rule
A manager who is inactive will eventually be fired by the club´s board. If the manager does not log in to his team for a period of 7 weeks, a warning mail is issued to remind him of his managerial duties. One week after the warning mail, the board will fire the manager, making the team available for other managers.
Cloning an Account
A manager’s subscription is often termed their “account”, and normally, there is a club associated with each account. One manager can have multiple accounts, meaning that he or she can play more than one team. A manager is only allowed one account per CM-Online world. Furthermore, a manager must give correct personal details such as address, etc. This is required in order to help the game supervisors to prevent cheating.
Since many managers after a while form great affection for the team that they have spent a lot of time and effort on building up, but still want to look for new challenges in a tougher world, for instance moving from a Bronze World to a Silver World, it is possible to clone an account into the next world level in the game. This means that a manager can choose to start a new account when taking on a job in the next world level. Experience points and manager attributes are copied to the new account, but the ranking is zeroed.
The old account is still there, and you can therefore keep playing the old club. If you choose to clone an account you can no longer change the original account to a Silver World team, since you have already accessed a Silver World team once through that account.
Rules for Accounts and Account Cloning
You cannot clone an account that you have changed teams with in the last seven days.
If you choose to clone an account, you will have to pay a new subscription fee for the new account.
You can never switch a team in a higher level world for a team in a lower level world. This means that a cloned account cannot be used to gain control of a team in the same level world that it was originally cloned from.
An account can only be cloned once.
An account that has been cloned cannot change to a higher level in the world hierarchy.
The first time that you apply for a job with a cloned account, you can only look for positions in the world level that the account has been cloned into. After that, you can apply for positions in higher levels, once seven days have passed.
An account that does not have a team cannot be cloned.
When an account has been cloned according to the rules, the cloned account is a full account in its own right, which means that it can also be cloned in turn.
Irrespective of account types, seven days have to pass in-between team changes.
A manager who chooses to quit (closes their account) and then starts again, seven days or more later, will be able to choose teams according to the amount of manager points on that account , following the same rules as described earlier regarding job applications.
Job Application Selection Criteria
Managers can apply for free positions in other clubs at any time, as long as the seven day rule does not apply. A new manager or a manager that has quit and started again will automatically get the jobs they apply for.
On the morning after the nightly updates, clubs that have received applications for free positions will select which of the candidates to hire. A club will select the manager with the most manager points, assuming that he or she fulfils the requirements for the Club Loyalty manager attribute.
Also see the section on bids for players in clubs without managers below.
A manager will not get a job in a club that plays in a world where he or she is already in charge of a club. It is, however, possible to change between two clubs in the same world.
The way selection of managers is done will over time, and on higher world levels, be more tightly linked to the manager attributes, and the specific needs of the club in question.
The Team
A team consists of a squad of players. When a world starts, every team has the same player squad as it does in reality. Apart from the individual skills of all the players in the team, every team has some hidden values that will change depending on how the team is managed. For example, cooperation between players may vary depending on the manager’s tendency to buy and sell players.
Assignments
In each team, the manager has to assign some specific and important tasks to some of the players:
Captain
The captain handles most of the communication with the referee, and he is also a role model for the other players on the field. You should choose a captain who can push his team to greater success, meaning that you need a player with a good temperament and lots of experience.
Penalty Kicker
The penalty kicker takes any penalty kicks that the team is awarded during a game. If a cup game has to be decided using a penalty shoot-out, the other four penalty kickers will shoot in the order they are listed.
Corners
The team has one player who takes the corners from the left and one from the right. This can of course be done by the same player. It is important that the corner kicker has good technical attributes in order to maximise the opportunities created and goals scored.
Free Kicks
Free kicks are divided into two categories: close range and long range. The close range free kicks are usually aimed straight at the goal, whereas for the ones further away the team will try to play the ball in a creative way, hoping to create an opportunity for a goal. Sometimes, the player taking a long range free kick will try for a long-range shot. Whether your team is successful or not at free kicks depends not only on the skill of the players taking the free kicks, but also on the way the team has been trained.
The Arena
The team has a home arena which can take a certain, predefined number of spectators. It is not possible to extend the arena, for various game balancing reasons. However, if the real club extends the arena, its capacity in the game will increase as well.
Youth players and Missing players
CM-Online contains about 50,000 players. Sometimes, a player who is present in a team in the real world is missing in one of the worlds. If this happens to you, you should report this to the player database supervisor via the game function made for that purpose, under Help/Suggest Player.
The player database supervisor will create the player, and add him to all the worlds where he is missing. The age of the player will be adjusted depending on the number of seasons that the world has been played. The new player will be added to the club where he plays in reality at the time he is added. The manager who gets a new player will have the ground value for their club recalculated accordingly.
As CM-Online progresses, more and more new talents appear in real life. Some of these are of course not players in the game, and they will therefore be added in the same way as the players who were missing. That is, they are added to the club where they play in real life at the time that they are added.
Players
At the start of a world, all players in the game inherit their present skills, positions and teams from real life. Once a world has started, a player’s skills can change depending on how you coach and train the team. If a player is injured in real life it does not necessarily mean that he is injured in CM-Online, although injuries are part of the game.
Attributes
All players have different attributes, with one value for each. The attributes for the player can be found simply by clicking on his name. The attributes are colour-coded: the higher the skill, the “redder” the colour. Different types of players have different skills. Goalkeepers for example do not have the same set of skills as forwards do. Some skills are more important than others. Study your players carefully to see which ones perform best, and what skills they have.
Each player of course has a name, a club and statistics from previous performances. Also, all players have a favourite position in which they prefer to play. Players can of course be assigned to other positions from their favourite ones, but they don’t perform as well as if they are. Some changes are less detrimental than others, for example a central defender playing on the left defender position will still do pretty well, whereas he probably wouldn’t do well as an attacker.
Apart from the attributes that are listed on the player screen, the players also have hidden attributes such as their scoring ability, their tendency to get injured and their temperament. You can find out a player’s scores for these attributes through our Assistant Manager (see above) or through a scouting agent.
Player Contracts
A player has a contract with his club. The details of the contract are shown on the player profile page. The contracts are of different lengths (different number of seasons). If a player has a one season contract, the contract ends when the present season ends. You can offer the player a new contract which will be valid from the day the contract is signed. The players will request different salaries during salary negotiations depending on their individual skills. This means that a world class star will not accept the same salary as a mediocre first division player. If a contract ends and there is no new contract, the player will leave the club without any compensation for the club. See the section on Free Agents below. For players whose contract ends after the current season, a special symbol is shown next to the player in the player overview.
Firing Players
Substandard players may be fired. The board will prevent you from firing players that are too good. When firing a player, you need to pay him the remainder of his contract, plus a fee of 20%.
Short list
There is a short list where you can add players that you want to monitor more closely. This makes it easy for you to track their development in the game. You will also be notified if some one places a bid on one of the players on your shortlist.
Training
In CM-Online, the team can do a number of extra training sessions in addition to the normal basic training each day. The basic training happens automatically, and if your players are well, they will participate. As manager, you decide how many extra training sessions the players should do, and what they should train. You may plan your training way ahead of time. On the days that the team has a match, no extra training will be carried out for players who participate in the match, apart for the training that the match itself brings about.
On the training page, there is a "basic mode" view and an "advanced mode" view.
Basic mode
Here you select your training for the players by choosing the training schedule you prefer from the drop down menus. The players will train according to the schedules you set until the next time you change the settings.
Advanced mode
Here you can set training schedules up to two weeks in advance. The schedule named 'DEF' (also marked with grey text) is the default schedule you've set on the Basic training page. Be aware though that any changes made in the advanced mode will override your settings in basic mode.
It is important to remember that while players improve their skills through training, playing games and training also wears them down. You need to find a good balance between training to improve skills and letting players rest to keep them motivated. Also remember that the risk of injuries increases with heavy training.
Each day you will get a training report where you can see how the players have responded to both the normal training and the extra training. Possible changes include an individual player getting better or worse at some particular skill. It is also possible that the team as a whole has changed their hidden skills, but that will not be included in the training report.
There are different sets of training that you can subject your players to. Experimenting over time will show you what has the best effect on your players. The different training methods are listed under Training – Schedules.
You can select a different set of training exercises every day. Remember that excessive training brings down the health of the players rather quickly. You can set the minimum fitness to participate in the training to avoid your players training when having low condition.
Matches
Roughly two league matches are played every week of the season. In-between those matches there can be friendlies, cup matches or practice sessions. Make sure you check your calendar frequently so that you can prepare for each match. You will not receive manager points for matches that you have not setup yourself.
Match Engine
The match engine of CM-Online is based on the coding technology of the highly advanced Championship Manager 5 engine, but there are differences. For example, there are no super tactics. Should one be found, it will be taken care of in the next nightly update, prohibiting managers from profiting from it. In order to produce good results with your team you need to make sure the players play well together, that your tactics fit their individual skills and that your line-up matches that of your opponents. Do not be afraid to experiment, sometimes unusual moves may prove quite successful. As the matches are simulated during the nightly update, you cannot make live adjustments once the match has started. Instead, you define a set of conditions before the game that will take place during the match. Such conditions include, for example, substitutions and mentality.
Friendlies
Playing friendlies against AI teams, your friends, or other opponents is often very useful. By playing friendlies you can bring your players up to maximum form faster, experiment with team formations, try out new players and new tactics, and let your reserve players play to increase chances of good training sessions, etc. In order to schedule a friendly you simply click the “Schedule a friendly” link on an open date in your calendar and choose your opponent. AI teams will answer immediately, while you will have to wait for your human opponent to log in before they can answer. If the team you want to challenge is not in the list of available teams, it means that they already have a match that day. Try another date.
Preparing for a Match – the Tactics page
You prepare for a match by accessing the Tactics page. This can be done either by pressing the Tactics button in the game menu or the tactics icon on the date of the match in your calendar.
Starting Formation
When you first access the Tactics page you will find your starting eleven spread out on the pitch to the right. On the left, you will find all the players in your squad that are available for this game. Some players might be unselectable because of injuries or because they have received too many yellow or red cards.
Once you’ve decided which players should start, what tactic to employ etc from the start, you need to save your choices. You do this by pressing the red “Save” button in the top right corner of the frame. Also, you can move your players around on the pitch, to set-up the team in a fashion that is unique to you.
You will also find the tactical event manager above your squad and the pitch. This is where you decide when and under what circumstances you want to make tactical changes during the game.
Tactical event manager
The first time, your tactical event manager will look like this:
This means that if for example you are behind by 1 goal in the 60th minute then your tactical changes will occur. You can change both the time span and when the tac tical change should occur as you can see below.
The icons depicted in the tactical event manager are the following:
- Press to edit the event
- Press to create a sub node to the selected tactical event. The sub node is
explained in full below
- Press to duplicate the selected event. It creates a copy of the event at the same
level.
-Delete the selected event.
- Increase the priority of the event.
- Decrease the priority of the event.
Sub nodes
The sub nodes in the event are dependent of each other so if you change a player´s position in one node it will be changed in all sub nodes as well. A sub node is where you make changes to the match based on what has happened in the parent node above. The events in the sub node will only take place if the conditions for both the sub node and the parent node have been met.
Example: based on the picture above, you have to first lead by one goal and then later by 3 goals for the tactical events in 1.1.1 to occur. As you can see, the events in 1.2 and 1.2.1 will never occur. When we enter 1.1 this effectively cancel all nodes at the same level.
Substituting a player will affect the node where the substitution is made and its sub nodes. You will however be given a choice if you substitute a player for example, as can be seen in the picture below.
This means that you can more easily change an injured player at kickoff without having to change all the tactics nodes.
Priority
Setting the priority of events is important if both of them can occur at the same time. Then you need to choose which of the events should occur.
Example
In the 50th minute you score making it 1-0. In the picture below you have two conditions which can now both occur. In this case 1.1 will occur as it is higher in the list thus having higher priority. Should you change the priority of 1.1, switching place with 1.2, then the other event will be used instead.
This will enable you to set your tactics depending on the result in the ongoing game.
Example: you start with a 4-4-2 formation, with the midfield in a dia mond position. If you are ahead or it is a draw in the second half , you want to play defensively for the final half -hour, and substitute an attacker for a defender. If you are behind by more then two goals, you want to change to an aggressive 3-4-3 formation and change your left winger for an attacker. To do this, simply enter the changes in your tactics under the right node in the tactical event manager. When the match is played by the match engine, these changes – and those made by your opponent – will be taken into account depending on the progression of the match. This way, you can be an active manager during the match. Don’t forget that you have to save your changes, and that you can only make a maximum of three player substitutions in each match!
Once the match has been played, you will find the match report in your calendar, where you will be able to access a detailed match report and match statistics. The result will also be shown on the “Fixtures” page.
Optimizing Your Team
Try to get the most out of your players by placing them on those positions that they know best. Make sure that you field a good mix of individually skilled players, physically strong players and those with high morale. Remember that a player in good form or with a higher condition rating can outperform an unfit player with better skills. The special assignments, like captain or penalty kicker, are crucial, so make sure that the right players are assigned to those. The scoring ability of your players, particularly the attackers, is important. This property is partly hidden, but you can draw conclusions about it by studying the player’s history.
Try to make the best use possible of the players’ experience. Experience means a lot, both for the team as a whole and for the individual player. The team’s cooperation value is also important, which in part is decided by the number of matches that the players have played for the club. Buying and selling lots of players reduces the team cooperation in a short time span. Finally, when choosing tactics, you should try to adapt your tactics to the opposing team, while at the same time trying to use tactics that make the most of your squad.
Tactics
The following is a list of the general tactics that you can use.
Mixed: No particular tactics are used; the team tries to do a bit of everything.
Short Passing: Suitable if your team has many players who are good passers, playmakers and ball handlers. Opponents playing roughly and having good tacklers with high physique will make this tactic harder to succeed with.
Crosses: In order for this tactic to work well, you need to have fast wingers and wing backs, so that they can get in good positions to play the ball into the box. You also need attackers who are good at heading. If the opposing team has fast outside players and central defenders who are good at heading, this tactic will be less effective.
Counter Attacks: Your team should have fast midfielders and attackers. If the opposing team have fast midfielders and defenders, this tactic will be less effective. Counterattacks are difficult to combine with an attacking mentality.
long Balls: The team plays most of the passes over the midfield, and needs attackers who are fast, strong and good at heading. The opposition can best defend themselves with fast defenders who are good at heading.
Performance Rating
Once a match has been played, you can follow the ma tch event-by-event. You can also see how well each player performed during the match. This is an overall rating for the performance during the match. The scale goes from 0.0 to 10.0, where 10.0 is the highest possible mark. The rating is absolute, not dependant on the player’s relative skill. If a player gets a performance rating of 7.5, that says something about how well he played during that match, not how well he played in relation to how well he should have played, judging from his statistics. This way it will be much easier to spot how well players actually perform, rather than how well they perform according to expectations.
Studying the performance ratings is a good way to get to know your players and to determine which formations suit your team and tactics best. The performance ratings are of course also a good way to tell how well a potential recruitment would fit into the team.
Finances
Every team has income and costs. It is important to have a good financial status to be able to buy new players, and in general, the club should not be losing money. If the financial results are bad, the board of directors will be unhappy with the manager, and he or she might risk losing their job.
The club will get some income from TV and sponsors and of course from ticket sales. As manager, you decide how much to charge for league and cup matches. Depending on the ticket price, the number of spectators will vary, and of course, your income will vary depending on that. If the fans consider the ticket prices too high, they might become frustrated and go on a strike, meaning that only a few spectators will show up for the match. If that happens, the board will try to get you to lower the ticket prices.
The biggest expenses are player purchases and player salaries. It is the job of the manager to negotiate new contracts and make sure that the player salaries are kept down to a reasonable level. Another big expense is made up of player bonuses, which are paid out when matches are won. As manager, you decide the size of the bonus that is paid out to the sixteen players for a victory. The higher the bonus, the more motivated the players.
On the first day of every week, you will get a financial status report where you can see the financial outcome of the previous week.
Leagues
Every team plays in a league. The teams play each of the other teams in the league twice; once at home and once away. The dates of all matches can be found in your calendar.
Leagues in CM-Online
In CM-Online, you can be the manager of a team in one of the most interesting leagues in Europe. The available leagues are: Premier League (England), Championship (England), First Division (England), Second Division (England), Serie A (Italy), Primera (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany) Premier League (Scotland), Allsvenskan (Sweden), Tippeligan (Norway), Eredivisie (Holland) and Ligue 1 (France). In each world there are also approximately 300 teams which are always managed by the game engine. You can buy or sell players to and from these clubs, and you may face them in the European Cups.
The League Table
At the end of each season, some teams are relegated to the next lower division, and some are promoted (except for those in the highest national league, of course). If a team in the lowest simulated national league is relegated, the manager of that team will automatically be assigned to one of the teams that are promoted to the league he or she is in.
The position in the table is decided by: 1. The number of points scored (3 for a victory, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss). 2. Goal differe nce (total number of goals scored – total number of goals conceded). 3. Total number of goals scored.
Cups
The teams in each country can participate in different cups, national as well as international (European). Which cup a club plays in depends on how successful the club and its manager were last season.
National Cups
In each country there is a national cup, except in England, where both the FA cup and the League Cup are played. Every team in CM-Online will play in a national cup. Some of the cups are two-legged, some aren’t (there’s a rematch in case of a draw). If the match is undecided at the end of the playing time, there is a penalty shoot -out.
European Cups
CM-Online of course includes the European Cups. Every season, the best teams in Europe qualify for the two cups: the Champions League Cup and the UEFA Cup.
| League | Position |
|---|---|
| Previous Champion | - |
| Premier League (Eng) | 1, 2, 3 and 4 |
| Primera (Spa) | 1, 2, 3 and 4 |
| Serie A (Ita) | 1, 2, 3 and 4 |
| Bundesliga (Ger) | 1, 2, 3 and 4 |
| Ligue 1 (Fra) | 1, 2, 3 and 4 |
| Premier league (Sco) | 1 and 2 |
| Eredivisie (Hol) | 1 and 2 |
| Premier league (Rus) | 1 |
| Allsvenskan (Swe) | 1 |
| 1 Liga (Por) | 1 |
| Tippeligan (Nor) | 1 |
| SAS-ligan (Den) | 1 |
| Premier League (Bel) | 1 |
| Premier League (Gre) | 1 |
The 32 best teams in Europe play in the Champions League Cup. The tournament starts with qualifying rounds, where groups of four teams compete for two places in the finals. All the teams play one home game and one away game throughout the tournament, except for the final. In the cup, the best total result will continue to the next round. If the scores are equal, goals scored away are counted double. If the score is still equal, a penalty shoot-out is used to separate the teams.
The final game is played on neutral ground. Prize money is issued for each advancement in the cup stage, both in domestic and international cups. The prize money depends on the size and importance of the cup itself. The UEFA cup for example has more prize money then the domestic cup in Sweden. Sponsor money and general attendance will also increase if a team does well in a domestic or international cup.
Places in the Champions League Cup are awarded according to the above table. If the champion from the previous year should occupy one of the other eleven positions, that league will get one extra place in the Champions League Cup. Thus, if Manchester United are the ruling champions, and they end up in second place in the Premier League, the teams that are first and third in the Premier League will be allowed to participate in the Champions League Cup, in addition to Manchester United.
| League | League Position | Cup
Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Previous Champion | - | |
| Premier League(Eng) | 5 and 6 | 2 |
| Primera (Spain) | 5, 6 and 7 | 1 |
| Serie A (Italy) | 5, 6 and 7 | 1 |
| Bundesliga (Germany) | 5, 6 and 7 | 1 |
| Bundesliga (Germany) | 5, 6 and 7 | 1 |
| Allsvenskan (Sweden) | 2, 3 and 4 | 1 |
| Eredivise (Holland) | 3, 4 and 5 | 1 |
| Tippeligan (Norway) | 2, 3 and 4 | 1 |
| Superligan (Denmark) | 2, 3 and 4 | 1 |
| 1 Liga (Portugal) | 2, 3, 4 and 5 | |
| Premier League (Scot) | 3, 4 and 5 | |
| Division 1 (Belgium) | 2, 3 and 4 | |
| Greece | 2, 3 and 4 | |
| Turkey | 1 and 2 | |
| Czech Republic | 1 and 2 | |
| Russia | 2 and 3 | |
| Austria | 1 | |
| Ukraine | 1 | |
| Croatia | 1 | |
| Yugoslavia | 1 | |
| Switzerland | 1 | |
| Finland | 1 | |
| Bulgaria | 1 |
In the UEFA Cup, 64 teams from 23 different leagues participate. Qualification is based on the league position of the previous season, according to the table above. Also allowed to participate are the winners in the national cups. All matches are settled with one away game and one home game, and the best total result wins. If the scores are equal, goals scored away are counted double. If the score is still equal, a penalty shoot - out is used to separate the teams. Apart from prize money, the home team of course gets TV money for every game. The table shows how to qualify for the UEFA Cup. If the champion from the previous year ends up in a qualifying position, that league is awarded an extra place in the UEFA Cup.
Transfers
In order to build a strong team over time, you need to be familiar with the transfer market. Buying and selling players is a crucial part of any manager’s success. You will find that human managers are often a bit reluctant to let their superstars go, but that they might find swap deals well worth their while. Always remember that being nice and polite gives you an advantage over someone who isn’t!
The Transfer list
If there is a player that you want to sell, you can place him on the transfer list . That makes him easy to find for other managers looking for players to buy. It is important to note that if a player is on the transfer list and another club offers the minimum price you have set (or more), your board will automatically sell the player without further confirmation from you. The only thing that can stop that from happening is if the player does not agree with the buying club about his contract with them. If you are interested in buying players, you can look for players on the transfer list. They are for sale to the highest bidder, as long as the bid is at least as high as what the manager is asking. If your bid is: higher than the minimum, and the highest bid, and you agree with the player about his contract, then he will join your team.
Bidding for other playersSelling Players
It is also possible to bid for players that are not on the transfer list. Just open up a player profile (clicking on his name), make an offer to the club that seems reasonable to you, and make a contract offer to the player. Please note that contracts are per season, meaning that if you offer a player a one-season contract during mid-season, that will in effect only be a half-season contract. When you have fixed the amount and made an offer for the player, a message is sent to the manager of his club, who can choose to accept or reject the offer. If you accept an offer for a player, he will be placed on the transfer list with the proposed amount as the minimum. This gives other clubs the chance to buy the player, and helps prevent cheating.
Once you have accepted an offer for a player, you cannot change your mind.
Selling Players
If you want to sell a player, simply place him on the transfer list. You cannot sell a player the first 7 weeks after you have bought him to your club. This is to prevent “the stock trading effect” on the player market. Also, you cannot sell a player if losing him would mean that the team will have a total of less than 16 players, or that the position in which he plays would be undermanned.
Free Agents
When a player’s contract ends, he will be free to join any club of his choosing. He is placed on a special list, together with other free agents. When a free agent is signed up, he requires a special signing bonus, which is a lot less than the price for buying him from another club. He will also demand a higher salary than other players.
Trading Players
You can exchange players in CM-Online, even though there are some rules regarding which players to exchange and how to exchange them. You can only exchange players with a team that has a manager.
The following rules apply for both teams involved in the exchange deal:
- You can only exchange one player from each team in each exchange deal. - You can exchange a player and money for another player, but the money cannot exceed 25% of the entire deal's value. - It is possible to exchange a maximum of two players per season and team. - The value of the two parts in the exchange has to be about the same. - The team has to have enough players on the position where you lose a player after an exchange (2 goalkeepers, 6 defenders, 6 midfielders and 4 forwards).
The regular transfer offers are always prioritised if a player has both an exchange offer and a regular offer placed on him. Exchange deals are private, unlike regular transfers, which means that you can complete an exchange without interference from another team.
Bidding for players in clubs without managers
If you place a bid for a player in a club without a manager, the game engine will make the club’s decision. Teams do not like to let go of their star players, and they will always try to ensure that they have a large enough squad to fill all positions even when suffering from injuries.
Job applications and player bids are handled over the nightly update. As the manager has the right to expect that the team looks the same way when taking over as when he applied, a team with active job applications will not sell any players. However, clubs that have no active applications will deal with them as usual, except for the first seven days after losing their manager. This first quarantine week has been put in place to ensure that other human managers get a proper chance of managing the very same team that the previous manager left.
Also see section Looking for jobs and changing clubs.
Player loans
It is possible to loan players in CM-Online, which can prove useful if, for example, a better team wants to give their talents more match time in a worse team. Loan deals are private and the player's manager decides which tea m he or she wants to loan the player to. There’s no open competition as on the transfer market.
Players can only be loaned from a team with a manager. Also, these conditions have to be met:
- The player does not have a good chance of a place in the starting eleven of his current team. - The player is likely to get to play in the new team. - The player has more than one year left on his contract. - The player's team has got enough players on his position (2 goalkeepers, 6 defenders, 6 midfielders and 4 forwards). - The loaning team has less than two players on loan from other clubs.
When loaning in a player you will pay his salary for the remainder of the season, but that is all you will have to pay.
You can always cancel a loan deal - the player will then return to the original club after three days.
The player cannot be involved in any transfer negotiations during the loan period.
Players which a manager wants to loan to another club can be placed on the "Loan list" where they are visible to other managers that might be interested.
Sacking players
A manager can ask their board to sack a player in their team. The board will evaluate the manager's request and either decide to approve or decline the request. The following is necessary for them to approve the request:
- The part of the team where the player plays (goalkeepers, defenders etc) has to have enough players. The board thinks that the club should have at least two goalkeepers, six defenders, six midfielders and four forwards. - The player cannot be too good. If he is one of the best on his position, or his skills are too high compared to the average of the team, he cannot be sacked. The board’s leniency will vary depending on how many and how good the players in the part of the team are. It also depends on how long the player has been transfer list ed for. - The club's finances must be good enough to sack the player, since compensation has to be paid to the player.
If the board approves your request, the player will leave the club on the next nightly update and be compensated financially due to the cancellation of his contract. The compensation equals his remaining wages according to contract, plus an extra 20% on top of that.
The player will be put on the list of "Free players" once he's released from his contract and may then go to whichever club he pleases.
Levels and Titles
Ranking
There’s a complex ranking system incorporated in the game in order to see who the best manager of CM-Online really is. The ranking is displayed on the manager’s business card, and is easily accessible from whatever forum post he or she has made, or on the page of their team. Just click the business card icon next to the manager’s name to find out.
The ranking is based on manager points per week accordning to the Champ Man ranking system as explained under the Manager Career chapter. The manager of the month contest only takes manager points of one team into consideration, but manager points are what you will be judged on, for example, during job applications.
In order to learn about competitions, match points and manager points, please read through the chapter on manager careers.
You can study the other managers’ current rankings under Ranking in the menu.
What’s in a name?
Managers sign forum messages with more than simply their birth names. There are also different titles and honorifics attached to it. The forum signature, broken down, looks like this:
[eCMO] First name Last name (manager title) [symbol for hCMO]
Where First and Last name is self-explanatory, the rest isn’t. The (manager title) is always present for every manager. It is a measure of how far you have progressed with your best teams on their respective levels. The more manager points you have gathered per week in the Champ Man ranking, the more impressive your title. The list of titles, from best to worst, looks like this:
The Champ Man
Grand Master
Master
Elite
Expert
Professional
Skilled
Proficient
Practised
Apprentice
Novice
Trainee
Freshman
Beginner
The more manager points you acquire, the better the title you will get. You start as a beginner and work your way up through the ranks.
Now, there are more than just manager point titles to gain. Winners of the monthly competition gain recognition apart from the manager points they surely made in the process. This recognition is shown through the epithet listed above, [eCMO]. eCMO stands for the Excellent order of CM-Online, and members there have all won the Manager of the Month contest at least once.
Managers who win the Manager of the Month competition are awarded with the title of Sir/Dame before their names. Their names will also be shown on the honors page within the game.
There’s also another order, hCMO – the Honorary order of CM-Online, which is not dependant on skill of play, but rather on how you perform outside the actual managing. Membership there is revised and awarded approximately every 6 months, and will only be given to those that have supported the community in an outstanding fashion. Examples of such behaviour could include being a marvellous editor for a newspaper, being of extraordinary help to newcomers for a long period of time, or inventing game functionality of extremely high usefulness. Membership is awarded on a case-to-case basis by our Community Manager.
Membership in hCMO is not depicted through a title, but rather through a symbol of a medallion next to the person’s name.
Buddy Leagues
Description
The buddy leagues are leagues or cups that you can play in outside the regular season, and across the span of different worlds. Their primary use is for you to challenge your friends to see who the best manager is, or to allow you to try to manage that favourite team or player that you’ve always wanted to do. In a buddy league you can play with any team in any of the worlds, no matter if it is the Preston side you’ve been labouring with for 4 seasons or the completely untouched Arsenal from world 22. You can invite up to 31 friends, rivals, work mates, class mates or whomever to your buddy league, and decide whether to play it as a league, a cup or a two-legged cup.
Effects on the “real” world
Play in the buddy league does not affect the teams in the “real” worlds. Players will of course get tired and injured within the league, but it won’t affect them in the worlds where they stem from. The buddy leagues give you a chance to compete your best team against your friends’ best teams, or to prove who really should have been the manager of Middlesbrough!
Manager points
Playing in buddy leagues does not award you manager points.
Creating a buddy league
In order to create a buddy league, you simply click Buddy Leagues – Create new buddy league. You get to choose how many opponents you would like to have, what form of play will be used (league, cup, two-legged cup), and whether the handicap system should be employed or not. You can then send out invites to your friends to play in the league with you, by clicking on the magnifying glass. The league will start on the date set by you. If there aren’t enough human opponents by then, the game engine will provide AI teams to fill out the league or cup.
Joining a buddy league
Click Buddy Leagues – Find Buddy League and you can search for a buddy league. Once you’ve found the one you’re looking for, simply apply for membership. The creator will decide if you will be allowed to participate.
Playing in the buddy league
Once you’ve joined a buddy league, simply click Buddy Leagues – My Buddy Leagues to list all buddy leagues you are in. The name of the league is a link to where you can set up your team and matches as usual.
Paying for a buddy league
Now that you have joined a Buddy League, you will need to pay in order to play in it. Paying for Buddy Leagues is done using Buddy League credits. Those can be bought on the payment page, which is found in the menu on the account overview page.
Getting Help
Support
There is an in-game customer report option in CM-Online. You can use that to notify our support of any bugs or problems, and to report suspected cheating. You will find it under Help – Support.
If you have any other questions, this manual and the FAQ section in the game should be the first reference points. If your question is still unanswered, check the forums section, and post it there. This ensures that all other managers can see the answer to your question. Try asking in the chat, most managers are very friendly and often able to help you out. The final resort if you cannot get an answer anywhere is to send an e-mail to a Game Master. They are there to help you!
Suggesting New Players
To ensure that the player database in the game stays up to date, your help and that of other knowledgeable managers is needed. For that reason, there is a function in the game that allows you to let us know about players that you consider missing from the database. We ask you to be careful when you use this service, and not to report phoney players (some people think it is amusing to report their own names, for instance). We need your help to keep the game up to date, but if the service is abused, it will have to be shut down. Abusers risk being banned.
Who is who in CM-Online?
Game Masters
In CM-Online, there are Game Masters, whose main tasks are to help you and other managers by answering questions that are posted to forums. They also supervise the game and work closely with the cheater hunting staff. The Game Masters are in constant contact with the game development team. You cannot ask to become a Game Master. If the game management feels that more Game Masters are needed, they will contact people that they feel are suitable, based on how involved they are in the game, and on their behaviour in the forums. Game Masters have no advantage at all in the game, other than usually being very experienced and therefore skilled managers. Game Masters do not participate in monthly or yearly competitions. The Game Masters’ writing is in green.
Moderators
The main task of the moderators is to answer questions in the forums. They are experienced managers, who try to help improve the gaming experience by sharing their experience in the forums, but they are not in direct contact with the development team, and they have no power to change game events. As with the Game Masters, you cannot ask to become a moderator. If there is a need for more moderators, the game management will contact people they feel are suitable to see if they are interested. Moderators also have no advantage at all in the game, other than their experience. The moderators’ writing is in black.
Cheat Hunters
The cheat hunting staff operates behind the scenes, and most of you will never be in contact with them. They have special techniques and tools to monitor manager activity and are responsible for keeping the game “clean”. If you suspect someone of cheating, report the incident with as much information as you can to either a Game Master or the support, and they will make sure the issue is taken care of. Any information about cheaters that is sent to us will remain strictly confidential.
Developers
Sometimes the game developers step in to answer complicated questions about game mechanic s. This is not too common, however. You will know them from their writing, which is in red.
Editors
Editors are those managers that have taken it upon themselves to volunteer as an editor for a newspaper. They are managers just like everyone else, but with a desire to share their hard-earned knowledge and witticisms with the community. Send a message to a Game Master if you’d like to apply to be an editor.
Reporters
Journalists are appointed by the editors. They write articles for the newspapers. Talk to your editor if you would like to be a journalist.
Managers
Managers, as opposed to players, are the ones leading their teams to amazing victories. That’s you, folks!
Miscellaneous
Fan sites and club pages
Most of the clubs in [1] have their own club pages. These pages have been made by some of the managers of the club to show their appreciation for the club and their CM-Online team. Some of the best fan sites will also be listed here.
CM-Online World News
Every world in CM-Online has a news magazine with news, columns, and much else. The news magazine reflects most of the things happening in each world, and covers everything from player transfers to upsets in the European Cups. Every world needs one editor for the magazine, and if you are interested, simply contact the game management at press-uk@cm-online.com. Attach some samples of how you would cover some sports items or a column you would like to write, so we can judge your writing skills.
Even if there is already a magazine and an editor, there is almost always room for more journalists. The more, the merrier! If you want to help out with the magazine for your world, just contact the editor, who will appoint journalists. The editor has a big responsibility, not just for what he or she writes, but also for what all other writers publish. Each editor has to sign an agreement to be the legally responsible publisher for the magazine. You can read newspapers from other worlds as well, simply choose the one you like from the list of papers.
