Stadiums

So the big new feature for v1.1 will I guess be the stadiums. This will have an enjoyable but far-reaching impact on FML, and how we play it, so it's well worth considering what effect they are going to have.

The first point is that daily income will now be separated into two streams - one based on the current daily income, and one on 'stadium income'. I guess this stadium income is based on some sort of average attendance figure, which is likely influenced by ranking, team reputation and so on.

Everyone starts off with a stadium that seats around 7000 people, and in a new world your initial attendance will be around 2000. This will rise as your team attracts new fans; currently, in the beta world my attendances figures are up to 6793 after a few weeks. Something stands out already - I'm running out of seats for the fans to sit on, and that will cap my stadium income if I'm not careful. I've just completed the first of a series of stadium upgrades, so my capacity is now up to 7920. I've got more upgrades planned, which will eventually see the team ('Now Is The Time' - thanks Richard...) playing at a 12640 capacity venue.

There is one caveat - my beta world models a retail world, and so at the moment we still have only the daily income, but we are getting warning of the imminent changeover - just like managers in the retail worlds will do. SI have learnt from the v1.0.1 complaints, and will be giving plenty of warning of the impending change; they are doing this via the finance news mail at midnight each night - mine reads:

Scottish manager Nik's good natured Now Is The Time have a current cash balance of £61,900 and a projected cash balance of £1,531,011 in 28 days, equivalent to an average daily profit of £52,468.

Important! As of Friday 26th December 2008 daily income will be split out into general income and stadium income.

Now Is The Time's current stadium and fan base is estimated to bring in stadium income in the region of £121,533 with general income being approximately £33,656, bringing it to a total of £155,189.

This compares favourably with Now Is The Time's current daily income of £134,625.

So with the stadium upgrades I've put in place, you can see that I stand to do OK financially. However, without the upgrades, I was scheduled to take a £20k per day CUT in my income. Be sure to read the mail, and avoid splashing £55k a day on crappy 15 year olds and you should be OK.

I say watch the finances, stadium upgrades cost money - and a lot of it. There are an almost bewildering number of different options available for stadium upgrades - style of stand, style of terrace/seating... all of which come at different prices, and attract a different sort of fan.

Each of the basic stands ('Basic Single Tiered II) is divided into 5 blocks - each of which can then be fitted with a different type of fan accomodation - plush seating for the execs, terracing for the hardcore, etc. There are an array of stand styles - multi-tier, different land area, different amounts of exec boxes, different number of ad hoardings etc... Do you want to be an Arsenal, or a Millwall...?

I've added in a couple of blocks of cheap terracing to my East stand, which will be my Kop - at £85 a square metre, adding a block of terracing costs £34,000 but adds 1600 to your capacity. It will attract hardcore fans, who could be problematic and won't pay very much; it could also prevent me from entering certain competitions where terracing is not allowed - it's a good, cheap option for the early starter though. It takes over 2.5 days to complete building of a block of terracing too... Plan ahead!

The initial stadium is set up with 'Astilla' seating only - the cheapest seating available. To add a block of that costs £102,000 - a block seats 880. I've added a block of 'Disagio' seating to try and get more families in - the children are the future! Finally, the 5th block I've added was of the 'Pieghevole' variety, for a slightly more refined (i.e. richer) supporter.

As a Blades fan too, I've not got much time for those that would be sitting in the plusher 'Di Lusso' seating, so they can wait - all 14 of my corporate fans, that is! In total, I've so far upgraded by adding 1 Astilla, 1 Pieghevole, 1 Disagio, and 2 terrace blocks - which has cost me £527,200.

Your fans will also feed back what sort of stadium they want - sign a load of bruisers, and the hardcore/devoted will be knocking at your door asking for a quiet word. Best install some terracing, pronto...

Spending big on wages doesn't seem such a great idea now, does it... Of course, with a stadium comes repair costs, so we have to pay to maintain the stands now and then, or risk running into the shame of having to close a section of the ground (the shame, I said, Wednesday fans, the shame!)

Also in to match the new facilities are new 'Infrastructure' skills:

• Construction: Reduced building costs
• Foreman: Reduced build times
• Surveying: Reduced chance of unforeseen complications during building...
• Diligence: Reduced deterioration rate

In summary - there's a lot of depth in this new feature. When v1.1 lands (I think in January some time), it's going to revolutionise the way we play FML - but in a good way. SI have heard the complaints about the introduction of v1.0.1 (which was a far bigger fuss that was necessary) and have learnt. These changes could decimate a team's income, but I think you'll get a month or so to make the necessary upgrades to your stadium before the income split comes in. Just make sure you do - and don't come crying to us if you don't... You will have been warned!

I'll be back with more at the end of next week when the change will have been implemented in my beta world, Coppell...