Challenges The Nation Locke Challenge - FMM18

[danovic78]

The Nation Locke Challenge

Credit to @Ashezfor this one

Today I bring to Vibe a challenge of tremendous difficulty which will question every aspect of your FMM ability and it's called, "The Nation Locke." 

When i'm struggling for ideas i often look at challenges popular with other games to see if that can ignite any inspiration and in this case i was once again inspired by the Pokemon Community. In this community there are various "locked" challenges which limit the way the games are played in a way that makes them more challenging, in this instance i've been inspired by the "Wedlocked challenge". I'm not going to go into these challenges as they're not relevant but i wanted to reference where the idea came from, if they happen to interest you i'd suggest using Google. 

The Challenge

The Wedlocked sees you having to pair two pokemon together by gender but i've twisted this concept for FMM, in my version you will be paring players by nation. When starting this challenge the first thing you need to do is pair up every position on the pitch in a sensible manner, for example you could pair the right sided center back with the right sided fullback. 

GK
RCB + RB
LCB + LB
RCM + RM
LCM + LM
ST + ST

GK
RB + LB
CB + CB
CM + CM
LM + RM 
ST + ST

GK
RB + RM
LB + LM
CB + CM
CB + CM
ST + ST

The players can be paired in any way you see fit as long as they make sense like the pairings above, you can not pair a striker with a center back for example, the pairings have to play next to each other. Due to needing to be in solid pairs any formation with a "lone" or "triple" formation can not be used. So a 442 is fine but a 4231 is not (I will be lenient and allow an AML paired with a LCM etc). 

Once you've worked out your pairs will you need to assign them an unique nation each. This nation is the nationality of that pair and is a free for all apart from the goalkeeper who must be of the nation of the league you're playing in, so if you play in Spain your keeper must be Spanish. 

Playing as Barcelona:

GK - Spanish
RCB + RB - English
LCB + LB - Brazilian
RCM + RM - Welsh
LCM + LM - Scottish
ST + ST - Belgium

You now have to build this starting eleven plus back ups, so you need to build double of the above. In the example above you'd have two Spanish goalkeepers, two English right backs, two English CB, two German left backs, two German center backs and so on. 

GK - Spanish - Valdes + De Gea
RCB + RB - English - Terry + Cahill and Johnson + Clyne
LCB + LB - Brazilian - Silva + Luiz and Sandro + Jorge 
RCM + RM - Welsh - Allen + Ramsey and Bale + Wilson
LCM + LM - Scottish - Brown + Fletcher and Naismith + Morrison 
ST + ST - Belgian - Lukaku + Benteke and Origi + Batshuayi

You now need to create your pairs and to do this you take one player from each position of that nation, so for England you'd take one of your right backs and pair him with your center back resulting in a Clyne and Terry partnership. 

XI One

De Gea
Clyne Terry Silva Sandro
Bale Ramsey Brown Naismith
Lukaku Benteke

XI Two

Valdes
Johnson Cahill Luiz Jorge
Wilson Allen Fletcher Morrison
Origi Batshuayi

Once your pairs have been made they are locked together. At this point these players can only play if the other member of the pair also plays. For example Terry can only play if Clyne does, if Clyne is unavailable and Johnson has to play then Terry isn't able to play either and Cahill will take his place.

Examples:

1. All four are fit - You can select which pair plays but it has to be one of the pairs. 
2. Clyne is suspended/injured - Terry also must be dropped
3. Clyne is unfit but able to proceed to match - Up to you if you risk Clyne and Terry or if you drop the pair. 
4. If you can't build a pair for a certain match, say Clyne and Cahill are injured you can play Terry and Johnson, this is however a last resort. 

You can rotate the pairs as you see fit but only these pairs can play in these positions. Even if the Brazilian left side of your defense (LB/LCB) can play on the right side they are not allowed to, that right side is for your English players only. 

Substitutions

Due to the way substitutes work in football (only three, pain in the arse to select them etc) you can use them however you want. The only rule with substitutes is you can only swap nationality for nationality. So you can swap Allen for Ramsey but you can not sub Allen on for Brown. If your English central defender is injured and you don't have an English player on the bench it's tough luck, you'll continue with ten men. 

Longer Term Thinking
Replacing Pairs

When it comes to replacing a pair it's a case of starting from scratch. If you want to replace Clyne you'd need to replace Terry as well. You can also sell off the four and change nationality as long as it's not to one already in use. However you won't be able to ever go back to that nationality. If you sell off your English players and swap them for Dutch, you'll never again be able to have an English set, even in a different position. You'd also need to pair up your new Dutch players and so on. 

Target

I'm not going to set any targets as i don't feel this challenge needs any. If you do feel you want something extra i'd suggest aiming for a league title or the Champions league, you could even say it's completed once you've won everything available. 

Rules

1, Everything above
2. No unlockables or use of the editors. 
3. All transfers must be done within the first window. 
4. You can only have these players in your squad (22 man squad)
5. No reloading matches - You may reload the first window to get deals done if need be but you can't reload matches.
6. Your keeper must be the nationality of the league you're playing in

Advice

1, Demote and transfer list everyone you don't intend to keep day one. 
2. Play as a rich club, an empty reserve team is a bonus. (makes step one easier)
3. Use something to plan out a potential squad - Personally i use a pen and paper. Use this to keep track of where you are, who's signed and how much money you have left. 
4. Load multiple leagues

Closing Statement

This is one of the hardest and most complicated challenges i've ever created. This challenge will test you in many areas including

1. Tactic building - 442 is a tough one!
2. Squad building
3. Ability to adapt to a team adjusting and players available
4. Money management
5. Concentration
6. Ability to keep your job

I'm personally playing this right now and it's a blast, i can confirm it's mind bogglingly hard to build the squad but it's also some of the most fun i've had with 2016. 

That's it for my Nation Locke! 

I understand this is a confusing challenge so any questions just ask! It's better to be safe than sorry so ask away! 

My attempt will be posted in the coming days  

Thank you for viewing, i look forward to seeing your views, questions and opinions on the challenge. 

 

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