Dear SSL Franchise Applicant, The SportTime Soccer League is delighted to inform you that your application for a new SSL franchise has been approved by the League Office. The addition of your franchise brings the total number of teams in the SSL to 64-consisting of four 16-team divisions. Your team, of course, will begin play in Division 4, the division which includes the 16 weakest SSL teams. If your team can finish the upcoming season in first or second place in Division 4, the franchise will be promoted to Division 3. Regardless of your standing in the division, your team is eligible to compete in the playoffs for the SportTime Association Cup. While congratulations are in order, we also must emphasize that the task of procuring talent for your new franchise will be difficult, at best. Undoubtedly, it will take you several years before all of the pieces fit together. To work your way up through the four divisions and become the number 1 team in Division 1 may seem like an impossible task at present However, we’re confident that with your superior abilities as an owner/general manager, head coach, and player, your new organization will flourish. Congratulations, Office of the Commissioner OVERVIEW Welcome to the SportTime Soccer League, better known as the SSL. Headers, bicycle kicks, passes, dribbling, injuries - Superstar Soccer contains all the action, realism, and excitement of outdoor soccer. Play center forward or goal-keeper. Play against another player or against a computer-controlled team, or have the computer play against itself You also can have two players play against the computer, where one player con-trols a team’s center and the other player controls the same team’s goalie. Compete in regular league play or practice games. In regular season play your team starts as the worst of the 64 teams in the SSL. Your team is the 16th (last) team in Division 4, the worst of the four divisions. Can you march past the other 63 teams and become the number 1 team in Division l? At the end of each season, the best two teams in Divisions 2, 3, and 4 move up to the next best division. Conversely the worst two teams in Divisions 1, 2, and 3 move down to the next worse division. In addition, you’ll compete for the coveted SportTime Association Cup. After your first league game, your team will play its first playoff game. If you lose, you’re out of the playoffs for the season and your team will go back to the regular league schedule. If you win the playoff game, your team will stay in the playoffs. You’ll play another regular league game, and then play the second playoff game. As long as you keep win-ning playoff games, the schedule will alternate between playing a league game and playing the next playoff game. Once you lose a playoff game, you’ll only play regular league games for the remainder of the season. But Superstar Soccer doesn’t stop on the field. You also have the opportunity to act as your team’s owner/ general manager and head coach. You make the trades, recruit voung players, conduct training camps, make substitutions, and call strategies. If you make good decisions, you can actually build up a dynasty as you climb through the four divisions. Make the wrong moves, and your team may play like an expansion franchise forever. SuperStar Soccer puts you in complete control of the sport of soccer. Your Options as a Player Choose to control either the center forward or the goalkeeper of your team from the Game Setup menu that appears after you select PLAY SOCCER from the Main Menu. Choose the computer as your opponent, play against a friend or play two against the computer. (You also can elect to have the com-puter play against itself ) As your team’s center forward, shoot, pass, and perform headers and bicycle kicks. You also have a 'turbo boost' option to run faster than usual, but use it wisely or you’ll wear your player out. When vou plan as the goalkeeper, make spectacular saves while your computer-controlled teammates try to keep the opposition out of your face. Read the section entitled 'HOW TO CONTROL YOUR CENTER AND GOALIE' in the enclosed reference booklet for details about player control and techniques. Your Options as an Owner/General Manager As owner and general manager of a new franchise, you are responsible for improving your club to make it more competitive with established league members. Should you go with a team of established but aging veterans, or replace the older players and start to rebuild? If you don’t acquire better players and develop the players you have, you stand very little chance of moving up through the divisions or winning the SportTime Association Cup. Your team probably will slump and gain a reputation as the league’s doormat? Three methods to improve your team are available to you. You can recruit (create) new, young players, trade players, and send your team to special training camps to improve their overall skills. You also can name your team and set the length of the regular league season. Select RECRUIT A PLAYER, A PLAYER TRADE, or IMPROVE TEAM from the Main Menu to reach menu options for recruiting, player trades, and training camp. See the section of this manual entitled 'IMPROVING A TEAM THROUGH RECRUIT MENT, TRADES, AND TRAINING CAMPS' for details. To name your team and set the length of the season, select NEW LEAGUE from the Main Menu. See 'New League' in 'THE MAIN MENU' section of this manual for more information. Your Options as a Coach As head coach, you can establish your lineup, make substitutions for tired or injured players (you must substitute for injured players) during a game, and decide offensive and defensive strategies to use against your opponent. Or, at your option, the com-puter can handle substitutions and strategy selection for you. S elect SET UP TEAM from the Main Menu before a game to make lineup and roster changes. During a game, you can send in substitutes and make strategy decisions from the Coaching screen that appears during any break in the action. See 'Set Up Team' in the section entitled 'THE MAIN MENU' for details. Also, see the section entitled 'COACHING: STRATEGY SELECTION AND SUBSTI-TUTION.' To get the big picture from start to finish, begin by reading the next section. THE MAIN MENU The Main Menu offers several choices, all of which are discussed individually later in this manual. You also can save a team from the Main Menu. See the enclosed reference booklet for specifics about saving a team and about how to make selections from the Main Menu, as well as the other menus in the game, if you need help. The top half of the Main Menu displays the cur-rent league standings, which show the won, draw, and loss ('W,' 'II,' and 'L' on the screen) records for every team in the currently selected division. (See the reference booklet for instructions about how to change the display from one division to another.) The teams are displayed in order of their position in the league standings. The team in first place appears in the left column at the top. The team in last place appears in the right column at the bottom. Your expansion franchise, the DESIGNSTAR team, is the last place team in Division 4, the weakest of the four divisions. (You can change the name of your team when you choose NEW LEAGUE from the Main Menu.) The options displayed on the bottom half of the Main Menu are split into two sections, under the headings 'VIEW' and 'TRY' A description of each option follows. The League Status When you select THE LEAGUE STATUS from the Main Menu, you’ll see some general informa-tion about your soccer franchise. The display tells you how many trading points you have available for player recruitment, player trades, or training camp, as well as the number of games that constitute a single season. Some historical information is given also, including the number of seasons your franchise has completed, the number of league games your team has played so far, and the number of rounds your team has played in the SportTime Association Cup playoffs. To exit THE LEAGUE STATUS, press the fire button (or, in some versions, the key that serves as the fire button). A Team History If you choose A TEAM HISTORY, you'll see a variety of statistics tabulated by season for an individual team. The statistics for each team are tracked for up to nine seasons at a time. The statistical categories tracked include won-draw-loss records ('W,' 'D,' 'L'), point totals ('PT' [three points for each win, one point for each tie]), goals for and against ('GF,' 'GA' ), division number ('DV'), place (standing) in the division ('UP'), round reached in the Cup playoffs ("CP"), and overall rating relative to all of the other 63 teams in the league ('RT'). In addition, the cumulative total for each statistical category is displayed at the bottom of the screen, with the exception of division number, place in the division, round reached in the Cup playoffs, and rating, which are averaged for you rather than totaled. You can change the display to a different team’s history by following the instructions in the reference booklet. To exit A TEAM HISTORY and return to the Main Menu, follow the on-screen instructions. The Playoff Tree This screen shows the game-by-game progress of all the teams in the playoffs. The right side of the screen shows a scaled-down version of the entire tree, with a square cursor that shows you the portion of the tree that’s displayed on the left side of the screen. You can scroll through different areas of the tree by using your directional movement controls (the joystick or, in some versions, key-board direction controls). Your team’s position on the tree is displayed when you first arrive at the playoff tree from the Main Menu. When playoff results are not yet known, a series of the letter 'x' appears in place of each team’s name. To exit THE PLAYOFF TREE and return to the Main Menu, press the fire button (or, in some versions, the key that serves as the fire button). Game Scores The GAME SCORES screen displays the results of the last set of games played. The screen may not show all the results at one time. Use your directional movement controls (the joystick or, in some ver-sions, keyboard controls) to scroll through the results. To exit GAME SCORES and return to the Main Menu, press the fire button (or, in some versions, the fire key). Divisions This option allows you to change the league standings display on the top half of the Main Menu from one division to another. Highlight DIVISIONS, then press the fire button (or, in some versions, the fire key). The display will change, in sequence, the division displayed with each press of the fire button or fire key Recruit a Player Select RECRUIT A PLAYER if you want to draft new players for vour team. The section of this manual entitled 'IMPROVING A TEAM THROUGH TRAINING CAMPS, RECRUITMENT, AND TRADES' describes the specific steps you need to take to recruit new players after selecting RECRUIT A PLAYER from the Main Menu. A Player Trade Select A PLAYER TRADE if you want to attempt a trade with another team. See the section of this manual entitled 'IMPKOVING A TEAM THROUGH TRAINING CAMPS, RECRUITMENT, AND TRADES' for the specific steps you need to take to trade players after selecting A PLAYER TRADE from the Main Menu. Improve Team Select IMPROVE TEAM to send your team to training camp to improve the skill ratings of your players. See the section of this manual entitled 'IMPROVING A TEAM THROUGH TRAINING CAMPS, RECRUITMENT, AND TRADES' for the specific steps you need to take after selecting IMPROVE TEAM from the Main Menu. Set Up Team In SuperStar Soccer, a starting lineup consists of an uninjured player at each of the six field posi-tions, which include center forward (CF), left wing (LW), right wing (RW), left defense (LD), right defense (RI) ), and goalkeeper (GK). In addition to the starters, you carry four additional players on your roster. However, when you play a game, only two of those four players are available as substitutes during play Use the SET UP TEAM option to establish your starting lineup and to decide which two of the remaining four players will be on your 'active' roster for the next game. The SET UP TEAM screen shows all ten players on the team on the left, and the eight players who are eligible to play on the right. The names of the two players who are not on the active roster appear in a different color than the other eight players names on the left side of the screen. In addition, each player’s skill points (under the heading 'S'), age ( under the heading 'A'), number of games the player will miss due to injury ( under the heading 'I'), and natural position ( under the heading 'P') is displayed on the left side of the screen. To give you a quick assessment of the team’s strength, the total skill points and average age of the six starters selected are shown at the bottom right of the screen. The higher the player's skill points, the better the player. The older the player, the more quickly the player tires, the more susceptible the player is to injury, and the more slowly the player recuper-ates from exhaustion or injury (Ages range from 17 to 36. ) Also, when a player plays a position other than his natural position given on the left side of the screen, the overall effectiveness of that player will be reduced. You can easily tell when a player is out of his natural position. His name appears in a different color than naturally positioned players on the right side of the screen. (In the C64 version, the names of players who play out of their natural position appear in yellow. The names of injured players appear in red.) Use this information to help you set up your lineup and to decide which players to include as substitutes. You also should look over your oppo-nent’s lineup to help you determine your own lineup. Look at the other team’s strengths, weaknesses, player ages, and injuries, then rearrange your lineup accordingly to create the best matchups. Creation of good matchups can give you a strategic edge and sometimes can help you make up for a lack of talent. To change your lineup, follow the instructions in the reference booklet to select the name of the first player you wish to change. Then select the name of the player you wish to place in the first player’s spot. As soon as you choose the second player’s name, the two players will swap lineup positions or roster spots. This method of swapping players from one position or roster spot to another can be used with any of the players on the right side of the screen and the two players who are not on the active roster as indicated on the left side of the screen. If you change your mind about a swap after selecting the first player’s name, just select that player’s name again as the player to be swapped to avoid making an unwanted change. Make sure you have an uninjured player at each position. The computer won’t let you start injured players. To see another team’s lineup, select VIEW TEAMS and follow the instructions in the reference booklet. When you’re done with your lineup, select FINISHED to return to the Main Menu. New League When you select NEW LEAGUE, you’ll be given a chance to give your team a new name, change the territory (U.S. team names or British team names), and select the number of games that constitute a season (7 or 15). Be forewarned, however, that when-ever you select OK to proceed, all team records and accumulated player skills are reset to their default settings (the way they were when you first loaded the program). After you select NEW LEAGUE from the Main Menu, you will be given a warning and a chance to change your mind before the accumulated records are reset. Select CANCEL to return to the Main Menu from the warning screen without resetting the league. To reset the league, select OK on the warning screen. Then, type in the name of your team (up to 10 characters) and press the RETURN (or Enter) key From the next screen, you can change the territory or the number of games in a season. If you choose ENGLAND as the territory, all of the team names will change to names of British cities. If you choose U.S.A., American city names are used. The number of games in a season can be set either to 7 or 15. This does not include playoff games. In the playoffs, you keep playing until you lose (or win the Cup). Remember that the sched-ule alternates between league games and playoff games until you lose a playoff game. (See the reference booklet if you need help with the mechanics of making selections. ) When you are done, select FINISHED to return to the Main Menu. Play Next Game When you choose PLAY NEXT GAME, the Game Setup Menu appears. From the Game Setup Menu, you can establish some rules and conditions under which the game will be played. Each choice is described below (See the reference booklet for instructions about how to make menu selections.) Note that when you play a LEAGUE GAME, several of the choices listed below are set automatically and can’t be altered, including computer control of the opposing team’s center forward, goalkeeper, and coach. In a PRACTICE game, all choices are available to you. CLOCK SPEED: There are always 45 'minutes' in each half of the match and 10 'minutes' in each sudden death (tie-breaking) half However, you can set the clock speed to run anywhere from actual time to 15 times faster than actual time. For example, if the clock speed is set to '1X,' then a 45-minute half will last 45 minutes. If the clock speed is set to '10X,'"a '45-minute half’ takes only four minutes and 30 seconds. TEAMS: In a PRACTICE game, you can pick the two teams that will play Note: In a LEAGUE game, you can’t pick the teams. The computer controls the league schedule-and one team will always be your own. YOUR OPPONENT/TEAM COLOR: Several colors for each team’s uniforms are available to you. The center forward of each team appears in the color that you select while his teammates appear in a lighter shade so that you can tell them apart easily from the other position players. YOUR OPPONENT/TEAM CONTROL: You can play a one-player game against a computer-controlled opponent, a two-player PRACTICE game against a friend, a two-player game in which you and a friend play against the computer, or a game in which the computer controls both teams. Decide whether player one, player two, or the computer controls each team’s center (center forward) and goalie (goalkeeper) or acts as each team’s coach. Each player can choose to play as either the center forward or the goalkeeper (but not both center forward and goalkeeper) for their respective teams. If you and a friend play against the computer, one of you controls the center and the other controls the goalie. Otherwise, the computer con trols your team’s goalkeeper when you choose to play center forward and vice versa. If you select the computer to be your coach, you will have no input about substitutions and offensive or defensive strategies. To have the computer control an entire team, make sure that COMPUTER is selected as the team’s CENTER, GOALIE, and COACH. GAME: Select PRACTICE if you want to famil-iarize yourself with the game without the game results or statistics counted toward your team’s league standing. (You should also select PRACTICE if you want to play against a friend rather than against the computer.) To play a regular league game in which game results and statistics are counted toward your team’s league standing, select LEAGUE. If a LEAGUE game is selected and all controls are set to COMPUTER, you’ll be asked if you want to watch the match or not when you select PLAY SOCCER to start the game. Select YES to view the action, or select NO if you are only interested in the final score and don’t want to watch the game. Note: Only league games can end in a tie. 'Sudden death' overtime occurs in practice and playoff games that are tied when the second half ends. CANCEL: To return to the Main Menu from the Game Setup Menu, select CANCEL. PLAY SOCCER: When you have made all of your choices from the Game Setup Menu and have double-checked to make sure everything is the way you want it, select PLAY SOCCER to begin the game. Note: If the computer detects that you have not prepared your lineup properly a SET UP TEAM option replaces the PLAY SOCCER option. If this occurs, select SET UP TEAM and adjust your lineup. IMPROVING A TEAM THROUGH RECRUITMENT, TRADES, AND TRAINING CAMPS The SSL administrators and the owners of the existing franchises recognize the need to maintain a competitive league. Toward this end, the League Office has worked out a system of trading points used by all franchises to improve their teams. Ti-ading points are of great value to you, because every time you recruit a player, attempt to trade for a player, or send your team to training camp, it costs you trading points. New hanchises are allotted 250 trading points. At the end of a season, additional trading points are awarded to each team on a proportional basis according to the team’s overall rating for that season. (A team’s overall rating after a season can be seen when you select A TEAM HISTORY from the Main Menu.) The better a team’s rating at season’s end, the fewer trading points the team receives. For example, the last place team in Division 4 receives 1024 trading points while the first place team in Division 1 gets only 16 trading points. You can stockpile up to 9999 trading points, or you can spend trading points before each season as you see fit. To see how many trading points your team has, select THE LEAGUE STATUS from the Main Menu. Use your trading points wisely You’ll need to take a close look at your own players’ skills to decide where you need the most help before making player transactions that cost you precious trading points. A good starting point for the evaluation of players is the Player Trade screen that appears when you select A PLAYER TRADE from the Main Menu. Every player has skill points to indicate their ability level. The skill points appear next to each player’s name on the Player Trade screen under the heading 'S.' The higher the number of skill points, the bet-ter the player's skills. Skill points range from 0 to 99. The skill points incorporate several factors, such as a player’s top speed, acceleration ability, shooting accuracy, and general intelligence. All players’ skill points improve each season as players develop through training camps. However, a player’s effec-tiveness declines as he gets older and nears the end of his career, even if his skill ratings are high. Keep a player’s age in mind when you assess your team. During a game, older players fatigue much faster and are more susceptible to longer in-jury than younger players. Players can miss up to eight games with injury, but younger players are less likely to miss a high number of games when injured. Also, older players recuperate from ex-haustion more slowly than younger players. As general manager, you must make the tough de-cisions to retire an older player or try to trade him to another team. The players’ ages are listed on the Player Trade screen under the heading 'A.' Ages range from 17 to 36. When a player reaches age 36, he remains on your roster in subsequent seasons, but his age continues to be given as 36. You must replace the player, through recruit-ment of a rookie or a trade, in order to drop the veteran horn your roster. By contrast, opposing team’s 36-year-olds are eventually 'retired' by the computer. Now that you have an awareness of trading points and player skill points, check out the three methods to improve your team. Recruit a Player: Getting Help from New, Young Players You can put as many new players on your roster as you can afford or can fit on your roster. New players cost you trading points and, in addition, come at the expense of players who are currently on your roster. AU new players that you recruit are healthy 17 year olds. A new player costs, in trading points, four times his total skill points. For example, if you bring up a rookie whose skill points total 25, 100 trading points will be deducted from your trading point total. Because of his inexperience, a new player’s maximum skill points cannot exceed 50. Perhaps the hardest decision to make when bring-ing up a new player is whose place he will take on the roster. Rosters have a fixed number of players, so when a new one comes, an old one must go. Sometimes, youth must be served, and as general manager, you have to push an aging veteran or a player who hasn’t shown much development off the roster to make room. It’s a tough business. When you select RECRUIT A PLAYER from the Main Menu, your team’s current roster appears. (See the reference booklet to learn the mechanics of making selections on the Recruit a Player screen.) Yo u must select the player who will be removed from the roster. If you want to give the player a new name, select NAME and type in the name that you want to give the new player (up to eight characters) and press RETURN (or Enter). You can keep the old name if you want. Next, select SKILL and then set the new player’s skill points (see the reference booklet). Your computer regu-lates the number of skill points you can assign according to what you can afford in trading points. Remember that the skill points that you assign to the new player can’t exceed 50, and that you must pay four times the player’s total skill points in trading points. After you assign skill points, select POSITION and then select the new player’s natural position. You need to select a position only if it differs from the position of the player you removed from the roster. The positions are center forward, left wing, right wing, left defense, right defense, and goalkeeper. When you‘re finished, select OK to return to the Main Menu, or select CANCEL if you change your mind and decide not to go through with the recruitment. If you select OK, the new player appears in the old player’s roster spot and the cost of your new player is deducted automatically from your trading point total. If you select CANCEL, your original player is restored to your roster without any cost to you. A Player Trade: Wheeling and Dealing With Other Teams Trading is a great way to improve your team in a hurry, but it’s quite costly and comes with no guarantees. The SSL administration wants to ensure that the league maintains competitive balance among its members to keep fans interested. As a result, the SSL arbitrates all trade offers. You can’t make a trade without league approval. In addition, the League Office charges an arbitration fee. The arbitration fee charged is 10% of your total trading points to a maximum of 100 trading points. The minimum arbitration fee is 10 trading points. The arbitration fee is non-refundable, even if the trade is denied by the league. To initiate a trade, first select A PLAYER TRADE from the Main Menu. The Player Trade screen appears, which gives you the option to TRY TRADE, VIEW TEAMS, or RETURN. The Player Trade screen shows your team roster on the left half of the screen and the roster of your next opponent on the right half of the screen, In addition, the skill points, age, injury status, and position of each player appears next to each player’s name. The average age and cumulative skill points of each team displayed is shown also. The cumulative skill points and average age give you a good idea of how well your team stacks up with the rest of the league. Decide who to trade from your roster and whom you want in return. You can view the rosters of all of the other teams in the league to find a player who interests you. To do so, select VIEW TEAMS from the Player Trade screen and follow the directions in the reference booklet to change the display from one team to another. When you are ready to trade, make sure that the roster of the team that you want to trade with appears on the right side of your screen. Select TRY TRADE. The arbitration fee that will be charged by the League Office for considering the trade appears on the screen, along with OK and CANCEL prompts. Select CANCEL if you change your mind about the trade and don’t want to spend the cost of the arbitration fee. To proceed with the trade offer, select OK. Now, select the player from your roster that you wish to trade. Next, select the player that you want from the other team. Now, type in the number of additional trading points that you wish to add as an enticement and press RET URN (or Enter). You can enter '0' if you don’t think additional trading points are necessary to make the trade more acceptable to the league and to the other team. However, the more you offer, the more likely it is that the trade n-ill go through. The trick is to offer enough without offering too much. The SSL administration will consider your offer. The administration takes into account the age and skill ratings of the two players, as well as injuries, playing position, the player's importance to his present team, and any extra trading points that you have offered. All trades are possible. The SSL moni tors your offer carefully, and 'serious' offers have a better chance to go through. Remember, the arbi tration fee is deducted whether thr trade is ap proved or not. If the trade is allowed, a message to that effect appears on the screen and the two players switch teams. Any trading points included in your offer will be deducted from your total and given to the other team, which will use the trading points for general improvement (training camp). If the trade is not allowed, an on-screen message informs you that the offer has been rejected. After a trade attempt, follow the instructions in the reference booklet to continue the program. Select RETURN from the Player Trade screen when you’re ready to go back to the Main Menu. Improve Team: Sending a Team to Training Camp Through general improvement, you can improve your entire team by sending them to training camp. At training camp, the skill points of each player on your roster will improve. The degree to which each player improves depends on how much you, as owner of the team, spend on the quality and duration of the camp. You can send your players to training camp only once each season, and you can spend anywhere horn 1 to 300 trading points for each camp. (To leave the screen without having to go through training camp, enter '0' trading points.) Remember, as a new franchise owner you have only 250 trading points to work with, and your other team improvement options, trades and player recruiting, don’t come cheaply Consider all of your options before you spend. There are pros and cons to using general improvement. On the positive side, all players improve somewhat at training camp, even if you do not see an immediate improvement in their skill points. Also, general improvement involves no risk. All trading points allocated for improvement are guaranteed to produce good results. On the negative side, it will take many seasons and lots of trading points to build up your weakest players. Trading may get you better players right away. Also, only a slight priority is given at training camp to improving your weakest players. For the most part, strong and weak players improve equally at camp. When you select IMPROVE TEAM from the Main Menu, you’ll be asked how many trading points that you want to allocate to your team’s improvement, Type the number of trading points that you want to spend (O-300 ) and press RETURN (or Enter). The message 'TRAINING CAMP COMPLETE' appears on the screen when the team breaks camp. Follow the instructions in the refer-ence booklet to return to the Main Menu when training camp is over. COACHING: STRATEGY SELECTION AND SUBSTITUTION To put yourself in the coach’s seat, make sure before the game starts that you have made the appropriate COACH CONTROL selection from the Game Setup Menu (see 'Play Next Game' in 'THE MAIN MENU' section for details). Before a game starts and whenever there is a break in the action during a game, you are given the opportunity to take over the coaching reins of your team, unless you have selected the computer to act as your team’s coach ( in which case the computer handles substitution and strategy selection for you). Play stops when a goal is scored, a penalty occurs, the ball goes out of play an injury occurs, or a half ends. When play stops, the Coaching screen appears. From the Coaching screen, you can substitute players to replace tired or injured players, In addition, you can select your offensive and de-fensive strategies. When the Coaching screen appears, first select your offensive strategy PICK OFFENSIVE PLAY will be highlighted on your team’s side of the Coaching screen to remind you to make the offensive strategy selection. You have three choices: SHOOT, PASS, or MIX. (See the reference booklet for details about the mechanics of making choices on the Coaching screen. ) Each offensive strategy option is discussed under the heading 'Strategy Selection’ later in this section. Alter you select the offensive strategy you need to select a defensive strategy PICK DEFENSIVE PLAY will be highlighted on your team’s side of the Coaching screen when the computer awaits your defensive strategy choice. You have four defensive options: DEFEND 1, DEFEND 2, COVER 1, and COVER 2. Each defensive strategy option is discussed under the heading 'Strategy Selection'. later in this section. Next, you’re given the opportunity to make lineup substitutions ( SUBSTITUTIONS will be highlighted on your team’s side of the Coaching screen.) Select NO if you want to return to the game without making any substitutions. If you select YES, your lineup appears, and you can make substitutions or change players’ positions. The effective power rating ('EP'), maximum power rating ('MP'), and position ('P') of each player on your team is displayed. The effective power rating indicates how tired a player is. In addition, players’ effective power ratings are lowered when they play out of position. Compare a player’s effective power rating with his maximum power rating. The further apart the two ratings are, the more tired the player is. Tired players do not perform well! In the case of players out of their natural position, you’ll find that players’ effective power ratings are reduced on a percentage basis, depending on their natural positions and the position you’ve moved them to. For example, a center moved to left wing retains 75% of his effectiveness. However, if you move the center to goalie, a less similar position, he re-tains only 25% of his effectiveness. Experiment! After you've made a substitution, the Coaching screen reappears, and again you are given the opportunity to make substitutions. You can cancel a substitution by selecting the same player twice. When you've made all the substitutions you want, select NO on the Coaching screen to return to the game. Strategy Selection Choose among three offensive strategies: SHOOT: This is a good strategy when your team is behind or if you prefer an aggressive offense. All players will try to get off a lot of shots from up close, and even from out at midfield. The closer players get to the goal, the more likely a shot will be taken. This strategy often results in good rebound shot possibilities for your center forward. It also can reduce the responsibilities of a weak center forward. Overall, SHOOT is a good strategy to get off the most shots in the least amount of time. PASS: This strategy draws lots of passes to your center forward. The center forward can keep team-mates in the flow by passing the ball as well. This teamwork ultimately will result in working the ball downfield while keeping the defense off-balance. The PASS strategy allows your center forward to take more control of the offense. It’s a good strategy to use when you have a high-quality center forward. It can be used effectively to set up for an insurance goal when you have a lead, or to help kill the clock as a defensive move. MIX: In most situations, this is the most appropriate strategy It results in a we&balanced combination of passing and shooting. You also have your choice among four defensive strategies: DEFEND 1: This is a good, conservative defense. DEFEND 1 is a good choice when you want to 'sit on a lead' and kill the clock while playing it safe. This strategy keeps your players from over-commit-ting themselves. They will play back and will be in a better position to prevent breakaways and open shots. DEFEND 1 is a zone defense in which your players 'play the man' rather than 'play the ball? DEFEND 2: This strategy is similar to, but not quite so conservative as, DEFEND 1. It’s a zone defense, but your defenders will play both the man and the ball. DEFEND 2 is a more aggressive, slightly riskier version of DEFEND 1. COVER 1: If you have to play 'catch-up,' this is a good strategy Your teammates will take risks in order to get the ball. They will 'shadow' the oppo-sition, bumping and harassing opposing players at every opportunity On the negative side, your team becomes vulnerable to a fast break by the oppo-nent. It’s tough for lower-skilled players to keep up in this type of defense. When you use COVER 1, your players will play the man and not the ball. COVER 2: This strategy is similar to COVER 1, but even more aggressive. Your team will play both the man and the ball. This is the most aggressive, not to mention the most risky, defensive strategy available to you. Substitution AS head coach, you should monitor your players’ fatigue and replace a tired player with a fresh substi-tute. Also, you'll have to send in a substitute whenever one of your players is injured. Your team is made up of players of varying abilities and ages. The longer a player stays on the field, the more tired the player is likely to get (especially older players). You can tell how tired a player is by his 'EP' (effective power) rating, which appears when you select YES while SUBSTITUTIONS is highlighted on the Coaching screen. The first time a player takes the field, the player’s 'EP' rating equals that player’s 'MP' (maximum power) rating (unless he’s playing out of his natural position). As the player tires, the 'P' rating drops. The longer a player rests on the bench after coming off the field, the more the player recuperates. Older players tire more quickly and recuperate more slowly than younger players. ABOUT THE LEAGUE SEASON AND THE PLAYOFFS The league schedule that your team plays is controlled by the computer and is determined by the number of games you select to play in a single season. (See 'New League' in 'THE MAIN MENU' section of this manual for information about how to set the length of the season.) If you select a 7-game season, you’ll play seven of the 15 opponents in your division. In a 15-game season, you’ll play each opponent in your division once. The 16 best teams are in Division 1. Division 2 includes the next best group of 16 teams, Division 3 includes the third best group of 16 teams, and Division 4 includes the worst 16 teams. After a full season of play, the top two teams in each division (with the exception of Division 1) will be promoted to the next better division. Conversely, the two teams in each division that finish last and next-to-last (with the exception of Division 4) will be demoted to next worse division. The ultimate goal is to become the number one team in Division 1. For your expansion franchise, that would mean improving from the worst of the 64 teams in the SportTime Soccer League to make it all the way to the top. It would be no small accom-plishment. If your team finishes in first place in any division, you’ll see the first place medal for that division. In addition, single-elimination playoffs are held during the season. All 64 teams compete for the coveted SportTime Association Cup. However, as soon as you lose, you’re out of the playoffs. Only the winner of the SportTime Association Cup actually will see the Cup. All records horn regular league and post-season play are recorded at the end of the season. Your team returns intact for the next season. You may have the makings of a soccer dynasty Has your team already peaked? Did you build your team with the intent of just one big winning season or do you really think your team will have a good shot at the Cup and continue the climb to the top of Division 1 for years to come? If you’ve done well, you won’t get many trading points to help you in the coming season. And, of course, your players are constantly aging. Good luck! ABOUT YOUR PLAYERS You establish control of the center forward and goalkeeper from the Game Setup screen. Follow the instructions given under the heading 'YOUR/ OPPONENT TEAM CONTROL' in the 'Play Next Game' section of this manual. Step-by-step instruc-tion that tell you how to control your center for-ward or goalkeeper are given in the reference booklet, but there are a few things you should be aware of first that have to do with the responsive-ness of your players. The skill points, age, playing position, and, in the case of center forwards, wings, and defense-men, effective power ('EP') rating (found on the Substitution screen) each affect your player’s effectiveness on the field. For example, a highly rated, young center who isn’t tired accelerates, runs faster, and shoots more accurately than a lowly rated, older center who has been on the field for too long a period. Defensively your center’s ability to knock down balls in the air is affected by skill points and fatigue level. When you play center forward, you may notice that your player is extremely sluggish and simply can’t keep up with the action. This player is either tired, not very skilled, or both. The importance of build-ing up your team, establishing your lineup, and substitution during a league game is never more plainly demonstrated than when your player moves at a snail’s pace up and down the field. A goalkeeper’s skill points affect his reaction time. His skill points and age affect his quick-ness in moving around the goalie’s box. His age affects how long it takes him to recover from one save and prepare for another. A goalkeeper will not fatigue during a game. SOME RULES AND REGULATIONS The following paragraphs provide information about some of the rules and regulations of soccer as it is played in the SportTime Soccer League. DELAY OF GAME: When the goalkeeper holds the ball too long, delay of game will be called by the referee. CORNER KICK: When the ball goes out of play over the end lines, the team that last touched the ball before it went out of play goes on defense and the other team kicks the ball back into play horn the corner of the field closest to where the ball went out of play In SuperStar Soccer, a corner kick also is awarded to a team when the opposing goalkeeper is whistled for delay of game. FREE KICK: When contact occurs between opposing players, the referee may decide that the contact either was a deliberate 'obstruction,' a 'dangerous play' or some other penalty on the part of the player who made the contact. If this occurs, the team not guilty of the infraction gets possession of the ball from the location of the infraction. All other players back away from that location, which allows an offensive player plenty of room to pass or shoot the ball to start play once again. THROW-INS: When the ball goes out of play over the touch (side) lines, the team that last touched the ball before it went out of play goes on defense and the other team throws the ball back into play at the location where the ball went out of play. SUDDEN DEATH: During regular season games, there are no overtime periods. If the score is tied after 90 minutes of play, then the game ends in a draw However, during practice games or, more importantly Cup games, IO-minute, 'sudden death' overtime periods will be played until one of the teams scores to win the game. In sudden death, the first team to score wins and the game ends. FORFEITURE: If you abort the program during a league game, you forfeit the game and it counts as a loss for your team in the league standings. Your opponent is credited with a victory. In addition, you'll lose trading points for each game that you forfeit from the total trading points that your team receives at the end of the season in progress. In other words, you can’t deliberately forfeit game after game just to build up trading points. There is no way to escape a game once it has started short of turning off your computer, so be careful, especially before a league contest, to double-check vour choices on the Game Setup screen before you select PLAY SOCCER to start the game.