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Weather and Pitch Effects

Each session the temperature will be set in one of five categories; hot, warm, cool, cold, or freezing. Try to imagine a season of KICKABOUT stretching over the length of a real season, so that Session One is likely to take place around the late-summer/early autumn period, Session Eight perhaps towards the end of winter, while the end of a season on session 16 should see summer well on its way. Each match in a session will be affected by the temperature as well as the wind and pitch conditions. The wind is rated as storm, gale, brisk, light or calm and may differ from match to match and the pitch condition is rated as good, hard, wet, muddy, and frozen.

Teams whose forward total, after all additions, is bigger than their midfield total will be affected by the wind, simulating the long-ball game tactics that such a shape of squad might produce. As the wind strength increases, so does the penalty incurred to the team’s forward line. The table below shows the deductions from a team’s forward total under these conditions.

If your team’s midfield total is bigger than your forward total, after all additions, then the levels will be deducted from your midfield total due to the ground conditions. Again, this deduction is meant to simulate the style of play facilitated by a team playing most of its football in the middle of the park, where passing and control at ground level is more vital than lofting the ball skywards.

If both your midfield and forward totals are the same after additions then neither set of penalties will be incurred. This table shows the effect of temperature on your team. If you qualify for one of the three team categories then the temperature will affect your team’s performance. The figures given are the number of levels added or subtracted from ALL outfield areas.

Within each newsletter there will be a weather forecast for the coming session so that you can plan your team selection to use the weather to your advantage. The wind that affects your next match will be very close to the forecast, and never more than one step away in either direction. As for the pitch conditions, they are going to be determined by the temperate mostly, with freezing weather giving frozen or muddy pitches, while hot weather will simply result in dry, hard surfaces.