Time To Crack On – The Cupdate Is Here. NUTMEG! Update 1.3 and Patch Notes

The board has heard your calls and answered in style. Between months two and nine of every season, you’ll be tasked with taking your team to glory in the Egg Cup, as we add knockout football to the game in today’s free update.

Alongside this cracking new bit of content, we’ve also introduced seven scenarios – five of which are iconic international games from the 80s and 90s. A perfect companion as you stay up to the early hours of the morning and watch this summer’s festival of football, don’t you agree?

But that’s not all! The Cupdate features several features and tweaks that Gaffers from across the world have been asking for – such as the ability to select your starting XI in delegated matches, improved training features, and a brand-new, harder difficulty called Gaffer Mode that will make you sweat.

To mark the release of the Cupdate – we are hosting the “ Football Fiesta ” – a two-week long event right here on Steam that features many of the biggest football games on the market. Pick up a bargain this off-season and take to the touchline (virtually) throughout the big tournament.

Check out these and more in the patch notes below (warning, there’s a lot!)

Features:

Egg Cup:

• The Egg Cup is here!

• The Egg Cup is a knockout tournament with eight games played between months two and nine, with every team in the 4 divisions participating.

• Winning the Egg Cup will reward the user with a large trophy for their cabinet.

Scenarios:

• Added seven new scenarios for Gaffers to tackle.

• ‘Double Vision’ – Win the double with Wimbledon.

• ‘Ghosts of Glory’ – Win the Egg Cup with Bury from Division 3.

• Five World Championship inspired matches, from 1986 and 1990.

Random Events:

• Introduced a new Random Event system.

• Events occur in months 2,5, and 8 and can last up to three months.

• Events can be good, neutral, and bad.

• Staff, facilities, stakeholder sentiment and other factors go into determining these events.

• Some events can be mitigated by having the correct staff and facilities.

• As a result of this new system, Setback Challenges have been removed from the game.

Formation Editor:

• Formation Editor has been added, allowing Gaffers to choose their starting XI for any game.

• Formation Editor is accessed via the corkboard and gameplan.

• This is done by dragging and dropping players like Gaffers would do pre-match in a Broadcasted game.

• Players will no longer be automatically added (if a new signing) or removed (if injured.)

• Removed the ‘Prioritise for Team Selection’ option.

• Added a button that will allow the best starting XI to be picked.

Difficulty:

• New Difficulty Options have been added

• Standard Mode is the existing difficulty mode.

• Gaffer Mode is a harder variant – with harder and longer broadcasted matches, stricter finances, and fewer easy-to-complete to-dos.

• Gaffer Mode trophies will receive ‘gaffer’ in their tooltip to show off to your friends in screenshots!

• A custom mode has been added, allowing these more challenging elements, and some other elements, to be enabled/disabled to your taste.

• Loading an existing save will require you to choose one of these difficulty modes.

• Hardcore Mode has been renamed to Marathon Mode to better reflect the gameplay loop.

Training Board:

• Redesigned the Training Board to support all six possible training slots on a single side of the board.

• Players will automatically switch to another skill when their currently trained skill is maxed out. They will cycle until all their skills are at maximum.

Additional Changes/Additions:

• Historic Transfer Deals will now be offered to a player. These are one time offers based on when a star player is transferring in history.

• Calling the Head Coach can now allow you to push the team to train harder, increasing potential progress at expense of team morale.

• ‘The Good Boy’ boost card has been added as a random pull in Target packs.

• Hundreds of new lines of commentary have been added.

• Poor performance teletext articles will now appear if a given stakeholder is particularly unhappy.

• The Board will now call at the start of every season to reflect on last year’s progress.

• New late game To-dos have been added which are more challenging and less focussed on teaching games systems.

• A ‘Level Up’ Perk has now added to perk pool, which allows players without skills to learn new skills.

• 4 New accolades added; Gain 60k Manager Score, gain 100k Manager Score, get promoted with a team in Gaffer Mode, and win Division 1 in Gaffer Mode.

• Hereford, Halifax, Tranmere, and York, now all have the ‘Quiet Year’ culture perk which blocks the Event system from triggering in 1980, as well as these four teams not entering the Egg Cup in 1980.

• Two extra save file slots have been added.

Balancing and Bug Fixes:

Broadcasted Match:

• Shot, One on One, and Long Shot, will now weight relative player power much more to determine base event percentages.

• Opposition teams now receive flat boosts on some events based on which division they are in. This means that Division 1 teams will play better than Division 4 teams.

• When a player performs a Counter, they will now be the player that begins the next Counter run.

• The Tactical deck setup, as determined by Formation and Orders, has had a balance pass

• Variance between formation cards reduced and variance between orders increased.

• If the next event has a projected chance of 100%, the 0% event cards are hidden, and the guaranteed outcome is centre aligned instead.

• Playing a boost card that affects the outcomes will cause outcomes to reappear.

• Bookings are now more likely when a foul occurs.

• Fixed an issue where the stopwatch could glitch during Half Time by quickly pressing left click after right click.

• Fixed an issue where the Half-time boost from the nutritionist was incorrectly given back after a goal phase.

• Fixed issue where stamina was shown as trait used for foul events

Delegated Matches and Friendlies:

• The match simulation algorithm for delegated games should now produce fairer results, more in line with user expectation.

• Match injuries from delegated games should now overwhelmingly select players who participated in the match.

• Friendly matches no longer trigger media interviews.

• Friendly matches now have dramatically reduced attendance compared to regular league matches.

• Red and Yellow cards earned in friendly matches now no longer carry over into the league.

• Win 100, 500 and Win 1000 game achievement now correctly counts delegated wins in addition to card game wins.

• Fixed issue where the player's kit colour was not correctly changing after delegating the match but the reserve is changing

• Fixed an issue where injured players do not update on Team Board until user leaves the Game Plan.

• Fixed an issue where “Result” localised text was slightly cut off by placement of clipboard in Game Plan menu.

Perks:

• Many perks unlock criteria have been rewritten for clarity.

• Added additional clarity with ‘Sniper’ Perk discount to correctly display as stacking with ‘Bargaining’.

• Perk challenges in the final quarter of a season will now be picked from a bigger pool, making it less likely for a user to get stuck on a challenge that they find difficult.

• Use of backroom half-time cards should no longer prevent the completion of the Summer Camp Perk challenge.

Transfers and Players:

• Top end players are now divas, with poorer negotiation rates. Furthermore, top end players will not want to join your team if their role is already filled out by other talented players.

• Future player potential now has a much higher weighting when it comes to base negotiation acceptance rates.

• Old players aging out will be very eager to join, young superstars in the making will now be pickier.

• Transfer fee calculation is now no longer flat across all player types based on value:

• Forwards will cost 20% more

• Midfielders will cost 10% more

• Top international players have been improved across their skills, traits, and statistics.

• AddedPlease NoteExisting saves with these players will not see a change. A new career must be begun for the new player data to be instantiated.

• Interests are now correctly revealed when scouting a player.

• Some erroneously duplicated players have been renamed.

• Personal page on Player Infocard has been redesigned, allowing the user to see reasons for poor morale.

• Fixed an issue where player's salaries did not increase after gaining the "Contract Negotiation" Mini Event.

Sentiment and Stakeholders:

• Teams now start with a different amount of starting Board Sentiment from each other, primarily based on division.

• Media interviews now limited to 1 per month.

• Large team sentiment movements should now affect individual player morale more acutely.

Boost Cards:

• ‘Tidal Wave’ is now correctly playable in defensive half.

• ‘Rising Tide’ is now correctly playable in defensive half.

• ‘Iron Curtain’ is now playable only in the correct half.

• ‘Thread the Needle’ is now playable in more events while in the correct half.

• ‘Clear Cut’ now replaces Save rather than Miss, allowing Gaffers to feel the benefit of the +% boost.

• ‘Hard Reset’ now stacks correctly with existing ‘Back Pass’ events.

• ‘Intimidate’ and ‘Manhandle’ now trigger fouls less often.

• ‘Cynical Foul’ and ‘Manhandle’ are now more likely to cause injuries to the opposition when a foul occurs as a result.

• ‘Rave Save’ now only adds +50% to Save, down from +60%.

• ‘Penalty King’ now only adds +60% to Save, down from +80%.

• ‘Windswept’ now only adds +50% to Clearance, down from +60%.

• ‘Shooty and Sweep’ now only adds +60% to Clearance, down from +80%.

• ‘Clear Cut’ now has a -5 Stamina cost.

• ‘Clear Out’ now has a -10 Stamina cost.

• ‘Crystal Clear’ now has a -20 stamina cost.

• ‘Goal Plated’ now only adds +50% to Goal, down from +60%.

• ‘Hand of God’ now only adds +60% to Goal, down from +80%.

• ‘Enduring’ now correctly has a silver finish.

• Nutritionist cards are now no longer returned via momentum.

• Space Invader and Space Ace are no longer eligible to be played on Long Balls.

• A shortened version of Boost card SFX now plays when a card is crafted.

• Card crafting VFX optimised to eliminate frame drops.

Additional Tweaks:

• Merchandise demand sensitivities adjusted.

• The league ladder on the TV now has colour-coded promotion and relegation spots.

• Tutorial reworked to include new formation editor feature.

• Gaffers are no longer able to press Back whilst Considering Options at the end of a season. This prevents a risk of accidentally losing progress.

• When calling the commercial director after unlocking sponsors, sponsorships will now be offered immediately rather than requiring the user to call back a second time.

• Various missing tool tips added.

• Season challenges refactored, new and improved with the aim that it shouldn’t be often trivial to achieve.

• Fixed a GPU memory leak.

• Fixed various edge case crash issues.

• V-Sync setting no longer reset after reopening the game.

• "Won Division 1 starting from Division 4" accolade no longer unlocks incorrectly after placing 1st in Division 2.

• "Defend Division 1 Title" accolade no longer unlocks incorrectly after winning a secondary Division Cup with a different team to the first.

• Fixed issue where Keegan’s Slump was also unlocking from a 4-3 loss

• Fixed issue where to-dos were not appearing after the 91-92 season, and the month remaining was not displayed.

• Removed repeated text on Injury board telling the user to hire more physios.

• Team logo is now displayed on stadium card.

• Fixed an issue where the clipboard would not return to the clipboard following a post-match phone call

• Fixed an issue where players couldn't view the football players stats in the forwards position in any formation while in Notice Board

• [Steam Deck] Fixed issue where the Head couch's new option was off-screen while in the match preparation screen

• Fixed rounding error with certain events showing as 100%/0%/0%

• Fixed issue where Clipboard was displayed in all the Training widgets after getting a call to hire new staff

Post Experimental Branch Bug Fixes:

General fixes:

• Fixed a crash encountered at the end of the season of the “Return to Glory Days” scenario.

• Fixed a crash encountered at the end of a match after pressing the tooltips badge.

• Fixed a crash encountered at the end of the season whilst using an older save file.

• Fixed a crash encountered when receiving Phone Call mid-season.

• Fixed a crash encountered after user tries to leave Team Board after last game of the month.

• Fixed a crash encountered when user would select the quit option or close the game by closing the window.

• Right Click 'go back' button no longer loses functionality after using it in Game Modes screen.

• Fixed an issue where player could access trophy cabinet while hovering over the stadium development table.

• Fixed an issue where the UI tooltip to sell player would be incorrectly displayed if the player info tooltips are brought up during the Tutorial.

• Fixed an issue where the Tactical Deck Info Sheet would remain present during active event runs after moving back from substitutions.

• Fixed an issue where bottom row of transfer players was showing higher sticker stat when in contract negotiation step.

• The last home game profit from merchandising no longer remains displayed even when the player starts a New Save file.

• Player can no longer incorrectly buy/sell facilities by holding down the Left Click button.

• Fixed an issue where trophies were remaining on display after switching from Career Mode to Single Season Scenario.

• Fixed an issue where the Calculator was not correctly displayed on the corkboard after selecting Resume Game.

• The Team Clipboard is no longer missing after starting a new season with the same team.

• Substitute football players are now correctly displayed on the clipboard if they get injured after a match.

• Fixed issue where User could not transfer players despite having enough money in the "Return to Glory Days” scenario.

• Clicking on player stickers on specific locations can no longer cause player sticker to phase through the clipboard.

• Academy players no longer appear in the Starting XI over other higher stat players.

• Edge on fixtures list no longer goes down to -10 after player injury and remains like that until next month.

• Game Plan Win percentage should no longer show incorrectly after broadcasting a match.

• UI for the Substitute players is no longer missing and should no longer show incorrect visual.

• Removed Team's logo being incorrectly placed over Facilities photos.

• Completed to-do list objectives should not reset when updating to latest version.

• It should no longer be possible for a player you have a Headhunted player show up as a Scout Find at the same time

• [Steam Deck] Fixed issue where players couldn't select any answers from phone calls to the Commercial Director while having a Sponsor present.

• [Steam Deck] Fixed issue where Player could not use LB to scroll back through pages in 2 different Managerial Tool tips.

• [Steam Deck] The "Future fixtures" IU tooltips are no longer off-screen on 1152x720 and 1280x720 resolutions.

Cupdate Specific changes and fixes:

• Fixed a crash encountered at the end of the match after a 'Slipped' event occurs.

• Gaffer Mode and Standard Mode now showcase the difference between modes when selecting them.

• Formation in Game Plan menu now reflects changes to formation in Formation Editor.

• Fixed erroneous behaviour of menus and UI when opening player info in the Formation Editor.

• Fixed issue where navigating left on player info would reset any changes to player formation.

• Player can no longer move player stickers through the monitor on the bottom right when moving them in the formation editor on the clipboard.

• Goal event no longer occurs immediately after the Slip event is shown.

• Calls for non-listed transfers are no longer occur for listed players.

• The 100.000 manager score displays correctly in the Trophy Cabinet after gaining it.

• The “Poorly Chosen Words” mini event no longer allows the player to sign a new sponsor after losing their current one.

• Appropriate Mini Events should now have a Teletext that is shown after they occur.

• Players should now receive a phone call correctly to specify that the Mini Event "Out of Touch" is over.

• Higher ranking teams will have more major events than lower ranking teams in 1980.

• Player can no longer ask the Head Coach for higher intensity team training at 30% sentiment or lower.

• Commentary fixed to match the “storm approaching” weather event.

• The mini event "Locker Room Punch-up" is now correctly mitigated while having a psychologist.

• Left bumper is now appropriately bound to the Head Coach Formation (Settings may need to be reset to default for this to apply.)

• Winger priority added and should now function correctly, giving priority when changing formations to wingers.

• Harder Card Games has been tweaked to increase difficulty.

• Fixed multiple cases of overlapping text in Scenario Selection menu in Polish.

• Fixed overlapping localised text for "Harder Card Games" in various supported languages.

• Balancing tweak to Bury Season Scenario.

• Fixed cut off localised text for "Head Coach Formation" in Controls.

• Changing subs then changing formation mid-match no longer causes a slot to become temporarily unusable for the rest of the match.

Phew, that was a lot to take in. Don’t lose this dossier, in case you need to refer to it again before heading out to the touchline!

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