A.C.E. 2

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_____ /__ /\ ________ T.H.E ____________ // __\_____ \/\________ \_______ _________ ___ __/ / /\\ \ .\_____ \/\ /. / /\ ____ ____ ___ Y \______ / \ \ \\ _ \ \// / \___ _ _\ Y . \_____/ / \ \________/\\ \ \____ / /\ \\ . \/ \_______/\ \____________/ / \ \ ______/[Sk!n] \_______/ \/ \ \_____/ [Simply Nutty] \/ -+------------------------------------------------------------------------+- | The LoOnS: Python Off The Guardian Action Man Chuck T-Leaf Fraz | | | | )/ideo /\/asty Bill | -+------------------------------------------------------------------------+- 20/3/94 PROUDLY PRESENT MANCHESTER UNITED PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS FULL DOCS ---------------------------------------------------- Typed By: Cornflake Supplied By: Python ============================================================================= LOADING THE GAME ---------------- Insert the PROGRAM disk into any disk drive and reset your computer. Note that if you have an external drive attached to your computer the PROGRAM and DATA disks may be placed in any drive simultaneously, negating the need for further disk insertion. Otherwise the user must replace the PROGRAM disk with the DATA disk in the disk drive when prompted, and the OK icon clicked on. GAME MANUAL =========== Manchester United Premier League Champions ( MUPLC ) consists of two main sections, these being the arcade part where the actual football matches are played out on the pitch, and the management part, in which the user selects the type of game to be played, sets up his team and formation and may view various statistic screens regarding his and other teams. During play within the managemaent section the user controls a small cursor to make selections. This is the small on-screen graphic which normally looks like an arrow. Occasionally, the cursor will change to look like a clock face, in which case the computer will either be busy thinking, or accessing the disk drive, in which case you must wait until the arrow returns. Note - during disk access, the disk must NOT be removed from the drive or the game will crash, and irreversable damage may be caused to your disk. The user controls the cursor using the joystick or mouse and must click over the on-screen icons (these are the coloured, rectangular text boxes which look like buttons) to access areas of the game. To do this you must position the cursor over the desired icon, using your joystick/mouse and press the left mouse button or joystick fire button to access a different area within the game. Icons may also be highlighted (given a white overlay) to show selection, or stippled out (given a black overlay) to show that the option is unavailable for selection. Most commonly these icons will contain the words OK, DONE or CANCEL and these self explanitory icons either enable the user to proceed or to disregard a selection. During the Tacti-Grid section you will encounter another type of icon, showing a small picture instead of text. Although these icons do not appear to depress upon selection, they are essentially the same as text icons. Also within the management section, the user may occasionally be asked to enter text or numbers. If a grey box pops up containing a flashing prompt within a rectangular boundary then the user is expected to make a textual or digital entry. This is achieved by typing in the desired text and confirming using either the return key or clicking on the OK icon. When viewing information lists within the game, the user may encounter instances where all the infomation will not fit within a single screen, in which case there will be a white bar placed to the right of the text window. By positioning the cursor over this bar, and moving the control device up or down whilst holding down the mouse or fire button, more information will be revealed as text moves out of the window. Alternatively moving the cursor to a point within the shaded grey area of the bar, and pressing your button will cause the bar to jump to that position. On many screens, where both a text window and icons appear, a name must be highlighted before the icon will have an effect. To do this position the cursor over the desired text and press your button. The line of text will appear inverse, and a further click over the relevant icon will take you to a different screen. Examples are the team selection screens within the Season and Single Match sections of the game. On statistic screens, a bar graph system is used to represent a players abilities. Each bar is displayed in a certain colour to give the user an at a glance idea of the players standard. The colours range from blue, showing a low grade, through green and yellow to red for good. Only the coloured portion of each bar represents player skill level, the white being empty. PLAYING THE GAME ================ Once the game has loaded, and the OK prompt clicked on, you should be looking at the main menu which contains five icons, namely CUSTOM CUP, CUSTOM LEAGUE, SETUP, SINGLE MATCH and SEASON. These, with the exception of SETUP are the different types of game that may be played within MUPLC. An explanation of each icon and game type follows. SETUP ----- Clicking on this will take you to a further set of icons which allow you to alter the general game options. These are:- IMPATIENT/PATIENT ----------------- Temperament: This may be toggled between PATIENT (normal screen fade-out) and IMPATIENT (very quick fade-out) depending on your personal taste. ENGLISH ------- Language: Click on this to change the text within the game to a different language. Choices are English (default), French, Italian and German. CONTROL 1/CONTROL 2 ------------------- Toggles between different cursor control methods, namely Auto Sense (the computer attempts to sense the control device being moved, and moves the cursor using either joystick or mouse) mouse only or joystick only for each control port. WEATHER ON/WEATHER OFF ---------------------- Weather: Allows variation in pitch condition to be turned on or off. OK returns you to the Main Menu. CUSTOM CUP ========== This type of game allows the player, and up to three other human participants to play a cup competition of thier own design, containing between two and sixty four teams. The competition is easy to set up, and is done using the following icons:- SETTING UP ---------- CUP NAME -------- Clicking on this red icon will bring up a text input box as described earlier. The player may now type in a new name for the competition after deleting the existing name using the BACKSPACE (arrow pointing left) key. The new name may contain up to twenty four characters. ROUNDS ------ This icon sets the number of teams that will participate in the cup, and therefore the number of rounds that are required. As the number of teams increases you will notice the column of green clickable icons grow as well, and these contain information regarding the number of legs required for each round as well as the option to play extra time or not, should the match end in a draw. Click on these icons to toggle the information within it. PITCH TYPE ---------- Click on this blue icon to select the type of pitch you wish to play your cup matches on. Selecting RANDOM PITCH will choose any of the built-in pitch types at random. Click on OK to proceed with the competition or QUIT to abandon the cup and return to the main menu. SELECTING TEAMS --------------- Clicking on OK will take you to the team selection screen, in which the number of teams, and human players participating are selected. On the left of the screen you should see a window containing all of the games available teams. Note that the window includes a slide-bar, as described earlier, to enable you to see more of the teams. At the top of the screen a line of text tells you how many teams remain to be selected before the competition may take place, and this decreases as teams are entered into the cup. A team may be entered into the competition in either two ways. Firstly, and probably the easiest is by simply double clicking (clicking the button twice in rapid succession) on a name. Alternatively a team may be selected by clicking once over the name to highlight it followed by a single click to the ADD TEAM icon. Either way, the team name will turn red in the left window, and be added to the list of selected teams in the window on the right. A number of other icons can be seen near to ADD TEAM, their uses are:- DELETE TEAM ----------- Obviously, the opposite of ADD TEAM. Highlight the team to be deleted in the window at the right of the screen, and click on the icon to remove the team from the competition. HUMAN TEAM ---------- Highlight a team name in the right hand window, and click on this icon to enable human control of that team. This may be carried out on up to four teams each one assigned a different colour which is used throughout the competition for easy identifcation. COMPUTER TEAM ------------- Works in a similar way HUMAN TEAM, but turns a human controlled team back to computer control, also turning its colour back to white. Works on the same system of highlight and click as in HUMAN TEAM. DELETE ALL ---------- Removes all teams from the selected teams list. RANDOM TEAMS ------------ Fills in the remainder of teams to be selected randomly. For example, if sixteen teams are required, and the user picks four teams, the computer will select a further twelve in order to fill the list. Any of these teams may be assigned human control or deleted in the usual way. Click on OK to proceed or QUIT to abandon the competition. PLAYING THE COMPETITION ----------------------- OK, the teams are selected and you are ready to play. What next? You should now be looking at a screen showing the Competition name and current round, as well as the random draw for that round. You will notice that any human controlled teams appear in the colour assigned to them in setup, except for occasions when one human team is drawn to play another human team away from home, in which case the fixture will appear in the colour of the home team only. Click on DONE and you are ready to play. The next screen you will see will be the strip selection for the away team. At the top of the screen the name of the home team is shown, above a small representation of the strip that team will be wearing during the match. Below this the away team name is shown above the three available strips for that team, along with three icons. Clicking on any icon highlights it, and kits out the team in the relevant strip, although this will not be shown until the actual match is underway. With the strips selected, the next stage is the Tacti-Grid, which is explained later on in this text. CUSTOM LEAGUE ============= This type of game allows the player, and up to three other human participants to play in a league competition of their own design, containing between two and twenty four teams. The competition is easy to set up, and is done using the following icons:- SETTING UP ---------- LEAGUE NAME ----------- Clicking on this red icon will bring up a text input box as described earlier. The player may now type in a new name for the competition after deleting the existing name using the BACKSPACE (arrow pointing left) key. The new name may contain up to twenty four characters. NO. OF TEAMS ------------ The number of participating sides may be selected by clicking on this icon. Input is through text box. POINTS FOR WIN -------------- Sets the number of points given for a win (one to five). The number is cycled with button clicks. POINTS FOR DRAW --------------- Similar to above icon, this time setting points for a draw (zero to five). The number is cycled with button clicks. PLAY EACH TEAM TIMES -------------------- Sets the number of occasions each team must play each other. Can be once or twice. PITCH TYPE ---------- Click on this blue icon to select the type of of pitch you wish to play your league matches on. Selecting RANDOM PITCH will choose any of the built-in pitch types at random. Click on OK to proceed with the competition or QUIT to abandon the league and return to the main menu. The next step is to select the teams to take part in the league. For a full explanation of this, see the SELECTING TEAMS text described in CUSTOM CUP. CUSTOM LEAGUE matches follow exactly the same format as CUSTOM CUP, with the addition of the following icons between matches:- LEAGUE TABLES ------------- Shows the current league table in the usual league format of [P]layed, [W]on, [D]rawn, [L]ost, goals [F]or, goals [A]gainst and Points. TOP SCORERS ----------- Shows all goalscorers in order of goals scores. SINGLE MATCH ============ Allows one or two human players to play a one-off friendly match, with no results or tables retained. To select the teams, a name must be highlighted within the window on the left, and then a further click on either team name box assigns that side to the match. Beneath each team is another icon which toggles control control of the corresponding team between Human and Computer. Note that the colour of both icons also changes to indicate this, green for human and red for computer. Click on the light blue icon to alter the pitch type, and the dark blue icon to kick-off the match. SEASON ====== Unlike the game types previously described, the League Season is not for the type of person with idle minutes to spare, consisting of a full league program over many game months, including major cup competitions. Obviously however, a Save and Load feature is implemented within this section for continual play over many seasons. Upon selecting the SEASON icon, a choice must be made between playing a new or previously saved game. Click on the relevant icon to select. Should LOAD be selected then a text box will request that you place your saved game disk into any disk drive, and click on OK to proceed. If NEW GAME is selected then between one and four human managers must be assigned to different teams. This is achieved in the following way:- Highlight a team name by clicking once over it to invert the text. To the right you will see four manager numbers, each accompanied by two icons bearing the text NOT ACTIVE, one of which is stippled out. Select a number and click on the uppermost icon for that manager. A text box should appear requesting a name, type one in and press RETURN or click OK. The name and selected club appear within the two icons. Repeat the process for another manager, or click DONE to proceed. Should you wish to remove a manager from the game simply click on his name, delete the text using BACKSPACE and press RETURN. The icons will return to their default state. After proceeding, the year selector will appear. Click OK to start the 1993 season, or type in a new year using the keyboard. The next screens displayed will be the draws for the F.A. and Coca Cola Cups, although these matches will not be played immediately. Any teams managed by human managers will appear in their colour, unless two humans are drawn together, in which case only the home team name will be coloured. If your team does not appear in either draw dont panic - your team is probably one of the better sides, and will be entered at a later round. Click OK to proceed on both screens. The next screen displayed is the Main Menu, consisting of a further set of icons. Look at the background colour and text at the top of the screen. This shows which of the human managers is currently active. Any other human players must wait until the previous manager has finished and clicked the PROCEED icon, so be patient. The other icons contained on the Main Menu have the following functions:- SQUAD ----- This page allows the user to view squad information for any team. Highlight a team name and click on TEAM INFO to proceed. A similar screen will appear. This time select any player name, and click on PLAYER INFO to view information and statistics regarding that player. Statistics are displayed in the usual bar graph format. STATISTICS ---------- Allows the player to access many information screens regarding all teams and players within the league. Highlight a team name and click on any of the following icons:- FIXTURES -------- Gives a fixture list for selected teams which also shows the teams results so far. Other teams fixtures may be viewed from this screen by selecting first a division using the top set of icons, followed by a team name from the window at the top-left of the screen. The letters that can be seen to the left of the results a abbreviations for the following: H-Home game, A-Away game, W-Game won, D-Game drawn and L-Game lost. To the left of the fixture date more abbreviations may be seen with the following meanings: LGE-League match, CC-Coca Cola Cup match, FA-F.A. Cup match, CHA-Charity Shield match and PLO-Play Off match. DISCIPLINE ---------- Shows the disciplinary points amassed by all players of the selected team, as well as any suspensions those players may be serving. Disciplinary points are given to all players shown a yellow or red card. When a player reaches the total of twenty one points he must serve a one match suspension. A player shown a red card during a match must serve an automatic two match suspension. SQUAD TOP SCORERS ----------------- This icon is slightly different to the others, in that the information it shows is only relevant to your own team, regardless of the highlighted name. Shows the number of goals scored by all your players in both league and cup, in order of total goals scored. LEAGUE TABLES ------------- Shows league order for any division, selected using the icons at the foot of the screen. Any human-managed teams will appear in thier chosen colour. Follows the usual format of [P]layed, [W]on, [D]rawn, [L]ost, goals [F]or, [A]gainst and Points. SQUAD FITNESS ------------- Shows any injuries currently suffered by players within the selected team, plus injury type and duration. TOP SCORERS ----------- Similar to SQUAD TOP SCORERS, but a list of all teams combined, once again recorded in order of Total. PERFORMANCE ----------- Displays a line graph showing the league progress of selected team throughout the season. Matches played are placed along the horizontal axis, league position along the vertical. MANAGER HISTORY --------------- Information for this screen will only be shown after the completion of a full season, and records your teams ongoing league performance. MANAGERS -------- Allows the human managers to leave the game at any time, handing temporary team control to the computer. Note however that at least one human manager must remain in play, and automatic management lasts for four matches only, after which the player will removed from the game. To suspend a player simply click once on his name. Upon rejoining the game, simply click on the same icon again to regain human control. DISK SHOP --------- Access this icon whenever you wish to save the current game position to disk. Data for all managers will be recorded. Also contained within this screen are icons to enable the user to load a saved position, or format a disk in preperation for saving. Always use a blank or unwanted disk, as saving the game will destroy any data contained on it. The MUPLC game disks should DEFINITELY not be used. CUP DRAWS --------- Allows the user to view pairings for the current round of both F.A. and Coca Cola Cups. FRIENDLY -------- Only appears after completion of the league season, for a period of one game month, and allows players to arrange practise matches against the opposition of their choice. SETUP ----- Clicking on this will take you to a further set of icons which allow you to alter the general game options. This works the same as described earlier on in this text. PROCEED ------- Click on this when ready to play your next match, or to hand over to the next human manager. Upon selection a list of the days fixtures will be displayed, usually containing your own team. Your team will not appear however if no match has arranged for that day. A click of the DONE icon will take you to the strip selection screen, described in the CUSTOM CUP section of this text. This is followed by the Tacti-Grid screen, described in detail later on. Next you are ready to take to the field. Full instuctions on how to play the arcade section are given later on. Upon returning to the management section of the game the days results will be shown, and occasional information boxes regarding players from your, or any other human managers team. The sequence is then repeated until the season is finished. As in real life promotions and relegations will be made ,after which a new season will begin. Should a manager be relegated from the G.M. Conference he will be sacked and removed from the game. TACTI-GRID ========== The final section before taking to the field is Tacti-Grid. This is an immensely comprehensive but simple system for selecting not only your team and formation, but also the tactics each player will be assigned during the match. Even though this screen may seem daunting to the first time user, the following tutorial will show just how easy it is to use. Firstly, understand that there is no need to even use Tacti-Grid to its full extent, should you not want to, as a selection of pre-defined formations are included and the computer will pick what it considers to be your strongest team, although full use of Tacti-Grid allows the user to get the most out of his team, and adds a personal touch to the teams style of play. The Tacti-Grid screen, you will notice is split into seven distinct sections, each enclosed within a window. Each window is now explained:- SQUAD ----- Contains a list of your complete playing squad. Player names appear in a number of colours, all of which basically show how selectable that player is. The meaning of each colour is:- White ----- Any player with 100 percent fitness, and serving no suspension, will be shown in white. Any white player may be selected to play in the forthcoming match. Red --- Red players are the opposite of white, that is they are definitely unavailable for team selection. This may be caused by either a serious injury or through suspension. Players will return to white status either after a considerable recovery period, or suspension expiry. Blue ---- Players coloured blue are also unselectable, due to to slightly serious injury. An injured player previously coloured red will eventually turn blue as the injury mends. Yellow ------ A yellow name also signifies an injured player, although this type of injury is so slight that the player may be selected to play. Be aware however that a slightly injured player is not a totally fir player, and therefore you will notice a drop in his playing standards, particularly his speed. A player previously blue will eventually turn yellow as the injury mends. You will also notice within the SQUAD window a number of double arrow symbols pointing towards certain names. These symbols represent a selected player, that is one who will either take to the field or the substitutes bench when the match is underway. You may change selected players in the following way:- Firstly highlight a player within the SQUAD window by clicking the cursor over his name to invert it (remember, only white or yellow players may be selected, any other colour will not highlight). Next select another player within the TEAM window who you wish to swap with, and click on that name- you will notice that the arrow symbol changes posistion within the SQUAD window to point at the new selected player, whilst the players name will appear in the TEAM window in place of the other. TEAM ---- Shows all players selected to play in the forthcoming match. Player positions within the window may be altered by clicking on one name, followed by clicking on another. You will notice that this action also changes the position of the player on the field within the FORMATION window. Alongside each player name, in the red coloured column you will see a number assigned to that player. This signifies the shirt number assigned to that player. Football fans will already be aware that there are two different types of player numbering, both of which are incorporated into the game. Firstly, if your selected player plays within the Premier League, then each player will be assigned his own personal squad number which will not change throughout the season. These numbers may go beyond the usual 1-11, and in some cases exceed 30. Should you change the position of these players within the TEAM window, then the shirt number will also move with it. The second numbering system regards those players who play outside the Premier League, that is Divison 1 to 3, and non league. These teams will always be numbered from 1-11, and moving a player to a new position within the TEAM window will not alter the position of the shirt number, the only exception being in cases where the match is underway, such as half-time. An important point to remember is that the goalkeeper always occupies the top position within the TEAM window. Placing an outfield player in the goalkeeper position can have a disastrous effect within the match, as these players usually lack the required handling and positioning skills. SUBSTITUTES ----------- This is a similar display to the TEAM window, and shows those players assigned as substitutes, that is those players who replace selected ones during play. Note that the bottom position is always reserved for your substitute goalkeeper, so always ensure a player of that type occupies it. PLAYER STATS ------------ Shows the abilities of your players using a series of coloured bars. The display only becomes active when a player name is highlighted within the SQUAD window. Each bar is accompanied by an abbreviation of the skill type, explanations of which follow:- SPD --- The speed of the player when running. STM --- The stanima of the player ie. how quickly the player tires. AGG --- The aggression of the player ie. how keen he is to tackle another player. A player with a high aggression factor combined with low tackling will foul players more frequently than others. The next two statistics vary depending on the player type, outfield or goalkeeper. POW --- Appears beside an outfield player, and represents shot power. ACC --- Another outfield staistic, representing shot accuracy. POS --- Used for goalkeepers only, showing the players positioning ability. HAN --- A goalkeeper statistic showing the players handling competence. CON --- The players ability to control the ball when dribbling. Also governs the amount of swerve a player is able to apply to shots. PAS --- Shows how accurate a player is at passing the ball. TCK --- Represents the tackling ability of a player. INT --- Denotes a players intelligence. Affects the player in a number of ways such as positioning on the field and decision making when shooting or passing. FIT --- The players fitness level. MOR --- Shows the morale of the player and affects many skills at once. SET PIECES ---------- The small window beneath SUBSTITUTES allows you to select the takers for free kicks and penalties. To assign a player to a set piece simply highlight his name within the SQUAD window, and then click over the relevant set piece box. The players shirt number should then appear beside the text. Any player may be assigned as taker for any number of kicks. Should no player be assigned to a box, then the computer will select a taker during the game. FORMATION --------- Contains the grid itself. Using this grid, the player is able to design complex team strategies, with the minimum of fuss. You will notice that the window is divided into a block of 11x9 squares, with a larger goalkeeper slot at the top. Each one of these squares represents an area of the game pitch. The grid is sectioned into three distinct divisions, shown by different shades of green. These regions represent, from top to bottom, Defence, Midfield and Attack. To the right of each positional division you will see an area coloured red, each containing three small instuction symbols. By placing the shirt numbers of the grid in one of the three regions, players will be made to defend, attack or play in midfield. Adjusting a players position along the horizontal axis causes the player to line up in that area of pitch, whilst adjusting their height within that region gives that player specific instructions on how to play within that role, depending on the corresponding insruction symbol. EXPLANATION OF INSTUCTIONAL SYMBOLS ----------------------------------- Defence region (top): __ / \ The standard defender position. Instructs the player to stay back at \__/ all times. ____ Instructs the player to move upfield when your team is on the attack \ / in order to support midfield/strikers. The player will move to the \/ midfield region. ____ \ / Similar to the above instruction, moving the defender upfield, all __ the way into the attacking region. Can leave defence severely \ / undermanned should you be caught with a quick counter-attack. \/ As these players are placed within the defence region, they will always return to their original defensive positions when required. Midfield Region (middle): /\ Instructs a midfield player to move back when your team is defending __ in order to help out the defenders. __ / \ The standard midfield position. Player will linger around the middle \__/ of the field in order to make passes upfield, or crucial tackles. ____ \ / Instructs a midfield player to move upfield when your team is on the \/ attack, in order to support the strikers. As these players are placed within the midfield region, they will always return to their original midfield positions when required. Attack Region (bottom): /\ Instucts the attacker to move downfield when your team is defending __ in order to help out defence. Can lead to an undermanned attack, /\ should the ball be cleared. __ /\ Similar to the above instruction, moving the attacker downfield, __ though to the midfield area only. __ / \ The standard attack position. Player will linger upfield waiting for \__/ passes from defence or midfield. As these players are placed within the attack region, they will always return to their original attacking positions when required. Player positions may be swapped within the FORMATION window by clicking on a shirt number, followed by another. The ICON WINDOW --------------- Beneath the FORMATION grid you will see a set of icons and a formation name. Clicking on the formation name allows the user to alter the name of that formation, using the keyboard. Should you enter no name at all the computer will name the formation using the number of selected defenders, midfielders and attckers eg. 4-2-4. The icons have the following functions:- / \ Available to you are eight seperate formations, which you may alter at will. These icons cycle through the formations, and changes made \ to any of them will be retained throughout the season or competition. / /\ A quick option to allow you to adopt a instant defensive pattern. __ A single click on this moves all players downfield one step. Further ii clicks move the team back until they reach the limits of the region. _ii_ A similar icon to above, with the opposite function of moving all \ / players forward one step. \/ __ /i \ Allows you to study the squad, team and formation of the opposition \__/ Click again to return. / / Click on this when you are satisfied with everything, in order to / proceed to the match itself. \/ THE MATCH ========= Now its time for the fun bit. If you have played computer football games before you should have no problem getting straight in to MUPLC, even though it contains many features new to games of this type. CONTROL ------- The joystick must be used to control your players. You will always take control of the nearest man to the ball, and the up, down, left and right directions move the player around the pitch. Moving into the ball will cause the player to take control, and with further movement the player will start to dribble the ball. A press of the joystick button will cause the player to kick the ball, with variable amounts of power and swerve, as explained in further detail below:- There are three distinct types of kick available to the player, these being a PASS, a SHOT and a VOLLEY. PASSING ------- To pass the ball, the joystick button must be tapped quickly, whilst facing the player in the desired direction. Should another player from your team be standing within a reasonable range, then the ball will go directly to that man. The reasonable range will vary however, depending on the players own passing skill. SHOOTING -------- The second type of kick available is the shot. This is quite a versatile type of kick, and may be executed with many varying heights and degree of power and swerve. The shot is achieved by holding down the joystick button for a little longer than a single tap. The strength of the shot is determined by holding the button down for varying amounts of time, and releasing. Once full shot power is realized, the player will automatically kick the ball. Whilst the joystick button is held down, the height and swerve of the shot may be altered. This is achieved by moving the joystick into a new position before the shot is released, as follows:- To alter the height of the shot simply hold the joystick in the opposite direction to the players movement, until the shot is made. The player will continue to move in the requested direction. Following the release of the ball, the player has a short amount of time in which to vary the height, by either releasing or maintaining the joystick direction. The longer the hold, the higher the shot will be. The swerve of the shot is applied in a similar way as the height, with the difference being that the joystick direction should be moved to the left or the right of the players direction of movement, until the shot is made. The player will continue to move in the requested direction. Following the release of the ball, the player has a short amount of time in which to vary the amount of swerve, by either releasing or maintaining the joystick direction. The longer the hold, the more swerve will be applied. The amount also varies depending on the players ball control abilities. Note that both styles of after-touch may be applied simultaneously, by moving the joystick into the diagonal positions. Whilst the controlled player is not in possession of the ball, a press of the joystick button will have varing effects:- VOLLEYING --------- If the ball passes your player at below-waist height, then a press of the joystick button will result in a volley shot, providing he is close enough to make contact. HEADING ------- If the ball passes your player at head height or above, then a press of the joystick button will result in the player diving to attempt to head the ball, providing he is close enough to make contact. DIVING HEADERS -------------- If the ball passes your player at around waist height, then a press of the joystick button will result in the player diving to attempt to head the ball, providing he is close enough to make contact. With the above 3 shots the ball can be directed within a 180 degree arc of the direction the player is facing by moving the joystick in the direction you wish the ball to travel at the point the player makes contact with the ball. SLIDE-TACKLE ------------ The player may be made to slide towards the ball whenever the above criteria are not met. This may be used to tackle the ball from an opposition player, or to reach a free ball in order to knock it over a short distance eg. to score a goal when not in kicking range. The goalkeeper within the game differs from the outfield players in that he is mostly under computer control. The only time you will take control of the goalkeeper is when you pass the ball back to him, or whilst he is holding the ball. If the ball is passed to the keeper by a player from his own team, the rule is that he is not allowed to handle the ball, and therefore becomes under normal player control in order to kick or dribble the ball away. Should the joystick directions be left alone, then the goalkeeper will kick the ball away automatically. If the keeper picks up the ball following a kick from the opposition you must kick or pass the ball, using the same techniques as a normal kick, to apply power, height and swerve. FREE KICKS/CORNER KICKS/PENALTIES/GOAL KICKS -------------------------------------------- These are all taken in the same way as a normal pass or shot, using the same techniques to apply power, height and swerve. Wait to hear the referees whistle before taking the kick. THROW INS --------- If the ball is kicked out of play beyond the touch-line (the vertical lines running along the edge of the pitch) then the opposite team is awarded a throw-in. To take the throw-in face the player in the desired direction, hold down the joystick button to build up power, and then release. General Features ---------------- Pitch types ----------- The game contains many different pitch types, which may be selected from within the management section, or given at random throughout a season. These have the following effect on the players:- Wet Pitch: Ball bounce and travel are reduced. Player control is made more difficult, players will occasionally slip and slide, and distance is increased. Dry Pitch: Ball bounce and travel are increased. Player control is unaffected. Muddy Pitch: Ball bounce and travel are vastly reduced. Frosty Pitch: Ball bounce and travel are vastly increased. Players will occasionally slip and slide, and distance is increased. Normal/Foggy pitches: Standard bounce and travel speeds. Deflections ----------- If a shot is hat at a player, the ball may deflect in different ways. If the shot is hit at a particularly high speed, and a player is hit, he may even be knocked to the floor. Deflected shots will bounce at realistic angles. Injuries -------- If a player is injured during a match, a message will appear at the base of the screen informing you of the severity of the fact. Injuries will effect the skills of the player to varying degrees depending on whether the player is slightly hurt,injured or seriously injured. It would be a sensible idea to substitute any player in pain or injured. Yellow/Red Cards ---------------- Any player who fouls another, risks being shown a yellow or red card. A yellow card is given for what the referee deems to be a serious foul, and serves as a warning. A player shown two yellow cards will also be shown the red card which means he must leave the field, and also serve a suspension. Players shown any card will be given disciplinary points which may be viewed within the STATISTICS option in the Management Section of the game. Control Keys ------------ During play, pressing certain keys on the keyboard will have the following effects:- F1- Access Tacti-Grid for the home team ie. the team printed on the left of the score panel. This allows mid-match tactical changes of substitutions to be made. Only works while the ball is out of play. F6- Access Tacti-Grid for the away team. Only works when the ball is out of play. P- Pauses the game. Press again to resume play. S- Displays the score. Any figures in brackets represent the first leg score, should the match be the second leg of a cup round. A more detailed version of the score panel, showing scorers and times is automatically displayed whilst the ball is out of play. Q- Aborts the match, and returns to the Management Section. R- Action replay. Press again to resume play. Action replays during the season are only available on machines with more than 1 Mb memory, but are always available during Single Match, Custom League and Custom Cup. During Action Replay mode, a further set of keys may be pressed for the following effects:- S- Toggles speed of replay between slow motion or normal speed. V- Toggles viewpoint of replay, front or back. B- Holding down this key winds back the replay sequence. F- Similarly, this key winds forward the replay sequence. T- Toggles time clock on and off. SPACE - Cycles view of replay to centre on each player in turn, instead of the ball. Substitutions ------------- During play, pressing either key F1 or F6 whilst the ball is out of play will take the player to the Tacti-Grid screen, to allow substitutions or tactical changes to be made. To substitute a player you must use the same method os for team selection. The method is as follows:- Select the player you wish to remove from the field by clicking on his name within the TEAM window. His name should highlight within the SQUAD window. Next, select the player who you wish to bring on to the field in his place, and click on his name within the SUBSTITUTES window. The players will swap positions within the TEAM window, and the player brought off will be stippled out. Click on the tick icon to return to the match. Only two substitutions may be made per team, per match. This includes the substitute goalkeeper. GAME TIPS --------- Manchester United Premier League Champions has been designed to give you hours and hours of challenging gameplay, ensuring that the game never becomes too easy, but at the same time is enjoyable for the beginner. We can assure you that as you become more proficient at the game, the dream of you achieving the status of Premier League Champions will become closer to reality. We recommend that as a beginner you choose the CUSTOM LEAGUE option and choose a strong Premier side. You can study individual player stats to gauge how good a team is, but for a quick start we recommend choosing Manchester United (Except for when playing Aston Villa). Then select a mixture of non-league, GM Conference and 3rd Division sides to make up the balance of your division. As your skill improves you may configure further custom leagues with stiffer opposition until you are ready to meet similarly skilled opposition in the SEASON option. In the Premier League you will control and meet fast and skillful players. If you choose to play in the lower divisions you will find that the game is played at a slower pace, but your players will not be able to dribble as well and their passing and shooting will be weaker and less accurate, In any cup competition, including CUSTOM CUP, you should note that meeting lesser opposition will not guarantee you safe passage into the next round. Some teams will significantly raise their game in order to capture some cup glory. There is no one to goal. You can try short, fast passes through the midfield, or fast runs down the wings followed by accurate crosses into the box, or even kick the ball long ball style. All can bring success depending on your own ability and preferences, the individual skills of the players on your team and the skills and formation of the opposing team. The one tactic that will not work is running in a straight line through a bunch of opposing defenders. You will almost always be tackled or pushed off the ball and the best you can hope for is a foul. If during a match you do not seem to making much headway try to analyse what is going wrong and, if necessary, change your formation accordingly. It is surprising what results even moving one player to a new position can have. Likewise, if you are well in control of a match you may decide to pull players back into defence to consolidate your lead. But do beware, leaving yourself short in midfield will invite almost constant attack from the opposing team for the rest of the match. If you are playing as Man Utd. in the Coca Cola Cup, and you happen to play Aston Villa, then radical changes to the team will have to be made, in order to avoid an embarrassing 3-1 defeat. If Schmeichel is indisposed, due to a match ban, rather than putting Les Sealy in goal, Andrei Kanchelskis will make a good goalkeeper. At least he can get his hands on the ball, something which Les Sealy failed to do three times. Also, asking all your players to link hands and stand in front of the United goal should stop all but the most valiant efforts of the Villa attack, namely Dalian Atkinson and Dean Saunders. Leaving Mark Hughes up front in the case of a lucky tap in is also recommended. The purchase of a Tiny Tears doll, and naming it Alex, and sitting it on top of your monitor is also recommended, so you can have a good, long weep after your crushing defeat. Aston Villa are also availiable for childrens parties, wedding services and cockyness removal, which they proved at Wembley only the other day. Finally you should know that, as in the real world, referees sometimes make mistakes, except in the cases of hand-ball, Andrei. 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