Tactics How "Primary Outlet" and "Primary Attacker" work?

[A Strong Beaverr]

From FMM 2016 we had new options in tatics but i don't really know how it affect the game. You guys have any idea? TY

[BatiGoal]

To be totally honest, I'm personally not so entirely convinced anymore these have an actual significant impact on the game/results. Playing with and without these haven't made a big difference in my current save.

If it hasn't been done already I'll test this out in multiple identical saves.

[A Strong Beaverr]

Yeah the same here lol. Thank you anyway

[veerus]

2 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

If it hasn't been done already I'll test this out in multiple identical saves.

It's been bugging me for a little while now so I was thinking of doing it at some point on my current save when everyone is in a decent mood.  The plan was to play my current formation of 41212 (midfield of DLP, CM, CM, AP and forwards of P, AF) playing a balanced short passing game (to maximize the # of passes with a central focus to hopefully isolate differences in a statistically bigger sample) and play out 5 scenarios, ~25 times each.  No subs for the whole game & no formation changes mid-game.

1. Control: no setting on outlet/attacker
2. DLP outlet, P attacker
3. DLP outlet, AF attacker
4. AP outlet, P attacker
5. AP outlet, AF attacker

Plan was to track # of passes/attempts, key passes/assists by DLP/AP and shots/on target, goals for P/AF.  And of course possession%, ratings and score for the four players across 5 tests.  And maybe even ratings for the entire team.  

If you want to run with it, by all means do so.  Otherwise I was probably going to burn through it at some point in the next few weeks.

[Ashez]

Everyone has interpreted the outlet as a creative force as I often seen people suggest playmakers and the like. However if you look at LFC our main outlet is our left back who often finds himself in space. I think people take the role as making that player the main creator like it's a playmaker role where you always want them to have the ball which I don't feel it is. Is selecting a central APM/DLP wise as you're setting your outlet as the player who's likely the most crowded? To me the wording of outlet is someone who's in space and can take the pressure of you, hence why wingback's come up as an option? It's not something I've tested but it's something I've been wondering about that I haven't seen spoke about?

Primary attacker is a waste of time from my experience, it also heaps pressure onto that player. 

Maybe we want to have the primary outlet as a player like your wingback while having the primary attacker as your APM and not your striker?

[Schwantz34]

Seems to make no difference at all to matches using the original engine.

 

I've found it effective sometimes with the enhanced engine however.

[BatiGoal]

@veerus

Another factor that perhaps should be tested is what effect does playing an prim.outlet with no selected prim.attacker and vice versa, a prim.attacker with no prim. outlet.

Does one work better with(out) the other? Or even affect at all? I was thinking about running tests but the significant number of added posibilities would make for a very time-consuming task. Not sure I have that time.

@Ashez

Thanks for adding to the mysterious cloud on the subject that was slowly dissolving into a clear sky.  You make good points tho.

[veerus]

Fair point.  I guess in the interest of time, we could test the 4 players individually only.  My thinking was that one is largely independent of the other so I could test two things at once but I suppose if the outlet is actually effective, that may make the attacker more effective by proxy.

[Ed]

It will be interesting to see what comes from the testing for this as I use them both but I am not convinced that they really have that much of a positive affect, I think they can be more negatives...  for example I assign my DLP as the outlet in the hope that my CDs pass him the ball and retrain from giving the ball away too often...  but the AI seems to work this out and marks my DLP causing him to turn over posession. 

I think the idea of selecting different players depending on who you are playing might be a good tactic, i.e. like Ashez said maybe a wing back if they have space, sometimes a AP etc, would mean that you are not changing your formation as such and makes it difficult for the AI to learn your tactic.

[Jack]

I've found that I've had more success leaving it blank but I'm guessing that's partly due to the formation I play (4-2-3-1). But yeah... your guess is as good as mine.

[Taff]

Never really bothered honestly I tried it when it was first introduced but never saw much impact, I used the Primary attacker option in my 1K attempts last season and I think it helped having a TM upfront with my PCR/ADF to clear space but other than that I think it has little to no effect 

[BatiGoal]

6 hours ago, Jack said:

I've found that I've had more success leaving it blank but I'm guessing that's partly due to the formation I play (4-2-3-1). But yeah... your guess is as good as mine.

Sounds like a case of better selecting none than the 'wrong' one. Ditto here tho.