Saap 2000 (c) The Midnight Oil

Supplier......: HiTech666          │  Release Date...: 11/05/00
Cracker.......: N/A                │  # of Disks.....: 04 x 2.88
Ripper........: HiTech666          │  Game Type......: Soccer Management
Packager......: HiTech666          │  Game Rating....: 9/10
Special THX To: H:Pain             │  Protection.....: N/A

REQUIREMENTS: Win3.1/9x/NT4, Pentium CPU, 8mb RAM, 30 mb HDD.

GENERAL INFO

GENERAL

Since 1993, when the major publishers "discovered" the soccer
management game (it only took them 10 years), game development has
stagnated. The "sequel" mentality has eliminated intelligence and
imagination and prevented the designers from introducing the
advances they've wanted to include.

We have more (irrelevant) skills, more speed-paralysing leagues but
at the heart of the game is the ludicrously artificial idea that
real-world managers sit with lists of players and skill numbers when
making out their team-sheets or buying new players on the transfer
market.

The soccer management game with skill numbers has reached a dead end.

At the core of Sick As A Parrot is a representation of the real world
(with no skill numbers) that one reviewer described as "a far more
lucid description of management".

The result is a transformation of the game into a realistic, intelligent
and imaginative game that includes important features and
characteristics of the real world that would be pointless in the games
we have become used to.

FEATURES

-League: You manage a team in the English Premier League. It can be one
of the current teams or you can choose your own - real or fictional.

-International: You also have the option to manage the national side
through a four year cycle of European Nations Cup and World Cup
qualifying and finals stages. It can be played as a stand-alone game
or integrated with the SAAP club module so that the schedules
interlock and the same player databases are used in both games.

-The Match: There is a 3D representation of the view from high in the
stands and indicates the flow of the game - the players moving up/down
and across the pitch and the ball moving between them as the match
unfolds. There is a lot of information about how players are performing
and how your tactics are working...or not!

-Editor: You can define your own teams and players if you wish.

-Cup Competitions: FA Cup, League Cup and all the European competitions
are fully implemented with away goals, extra time and penalties.

-Fixtures: View your full fixture list and past results for the current
season.

-Tables: Check on your position in the Premier League at any time.

-Finances: Financial summary available after each game - see how much
money you have to buy players or offer new contracts.

-The Board: They will warn you when action needs to be taken for example
if your wage bill is too high. You will also be praised when success
comes your way (and financially rewarded!)

-Team Selection: You have a senior squad up to a maximum of 32 players.
Additionally, there is a youth squad of a maximum of 16 players. You can
look at each player's details including age, length of contract,
preferred position (including left, right or central) and previous
performance.

-Coaching Staff: You have an assistant coach, reserve team coach, youth
coach, goalkeeping coach and fitness coach. All of whom can assist you
in your decisions.

-Scouts: You have a chief scout, assistant scout, youth scout and
goalkeeping scout to find the right players for your side. You can
specify certain characteristics to look for.

-Opponents: Your assistant scout will provide his assessment of your
opponent's players - strengths and weaknesses as well as their likely
formation.

-Transfer Market: There is an active transfer market with players moving
between clubs at the same rate as the real-world game. All players have
contracts and the Bosman ruling applies. Players who are out of contract
are available on free transfers but their wage demands usually take
account of that - they're higher! Players move between clubs as a result
of a sophisticated analysis of each clubs skill needs modified by the
financial reserves of that club. Some players will also have contract
disputes with their clubs and these players can often be tempted to leave
and join you - but not always. Each day, the transfers between clubs,
players moving out of contract and players with contract disputes are
reported in the daily "News from the clubs". You can approach a player/
club directly from that report if you wish.

-Contracts: Negotiate and renogotiate contracts. Players will also come to
you to ask for more money if they feel their performances merit it.

-Selling Players: You will negotiate with opposition clubs over transfer
fees etc. The negotiations can be very protracted, sometimes taking many
weeks if agreement is difficult, and you can prevent players going to
clubs you see as directly competitive in the current campaigns.

-Training/Practice: Each day you can define the type of training for your
players and your assistant coach will give his assessment of the
performance of every fit senior squad player. This takes into account a
player's appropriate skills for that training, his fitness, confidence and
commitment. In the case of fitness training, the player's fitness will
benefit allowing you to build up fitness in the squad particularly in the
pre-season phase.

-Injuries: The physio reports each week on players' injuries and will also
assess when they will be ready to play.

-Levels: There are four levels of difficulty from easy through to
masochistic!

RIP INFO

This is a REALLY GOOD soccer management sim. It contains virtually
every single aspect of a soccer team management. It's WAY more
advanced and realistic than any other soccer management sim...
Premier Manager and Giant Killers are kids' play comparing to this
program. The only thing that it lacks is a better graphical
presentation. This is the only reason it didn't get the mark of
10/10 (oh yeah, and the name is stupid also, :)  ). Anyways, it's
amazing to see such a great title from an unknown company as The
Midnight Oil (c), so if you like this title PLEASE go and buy it
to support them. http://www.saap.net .

Ripped out: Nothing, the whole game is here.

Yeah, some DUMB and LAME nukers decided to fuck up our
Elektropuzzle v1.33 release saying that (i quote): "v1.33 never
was released". Well, i guess if you had brains you'd INSTALL and
test it first... But NAH, it's too much work.. Why not just nuke
the release instead, right? Even though the ElektroPuzzle.exe
still says File Version 1.3.2.263 , the ORIGINAL history.txt
that is contained in the main game directory (oh yeah, and as you
can see the game still uses the original installation program so
we couldn't write and add any files) says the FOLLOWING (quote):

Version 1.33 * new *
-HelpFile was re-written
-Several Bug fixes

I wonder what does this mean? Well it doesn't take a GENIUS to
understand that it's indeed v1.33 of Elektropuzzle! But well,
since we are a new group some people would rather nuke as first
and then think. Anyways, NICE JOB STEALING THIS RELEASE FROM
THE PUBLIC. Those were my two cents for today,

HiTech666

INSTALLATION NOTES

Unzip, Urar, run Load.exe to start the game. The instructions on how
to play it are contained in the file "Manual.doc". Enjoy this great
release!

Be sure to check out our new intro (coded by D|dj3, music by CSM) by
running "Pwz.exe" after you've unzipped the files.

GROUP NEWS

We're looking for ISO groups willing to affiliate with us.

Right now we're also on lookout for the following SKILLED individuals:

1) Game suppliers- people who have the means and the time to supply us
with the LATEST (ie: non released by other groups, or even beta) games.
We don't care who you are: an occasional shopper, a publishing house
employee or even a company insider as long as you can supply us with
UNRELEASED titles. FAST connection is an asset. Right now we can't
reimburse you the cost of the software.

2) Hardware suppliers- all those who can donate/sell at a LOW price
hardware, especially RAM modules, CPUs, HDDs and video cards.

3) Crackers- please no beginners, we need more or less advanced people who
can crack commercial protection schemes like CDilla/Securom/etc...

4) Rippers- people who have some experience in stripping down games
without damaging their functionality.

5) We're also in need of access to 0-day/min ISO servers for our ripping
needs.

6) Any FTP Sysops who run FAST, at least T3 speed linux/NT boxes please
apply for inspection for the chance to become our EHQ. We also need
a AUHQ a RHQ to help spread our releases.

NO COURIERS NEEDED ANYMORE!!!!!!

SITES/MEMBERS LIST

PWZ SITES

|SITE NAME    |      RANK      |      LOCATION       |    SPEED    |

Leg*-L***  |    WHQ/USHQ    |    North America    |     2xT3
L**     |      AHQ       |     South Korea     |      T3
|Lit*** Dev** |      Site      |    North America    |      T3     |

Do you run an FTP server and you'd like to become our affil? Just e-mail
us for inspection.

Due to security measures members' list will NOT be posted in the public
NFO files. Our members know who they are and that's enough for now, :)

CONTACT INFO

E-mail: psychowarez_2000@yahoo.com
IRC: #pwz on Efnet.
Website: http://www.pwztechsupport.bizland.com ---> ONLY A TEMP SITE;
THX FOR THE GREAT JOB OF PUTTING IT UP, Mash.

NOTE: WE DON'T E-MAIL MISSING DISKS, NOR WE KNOW WHERE TO FIND THEM!
WE ALSO DON'T OWN ANY WAREZ WEBSITES AND WE DON'T FIX BROKEN LINKS WHEREVER THEY ARE
OUR CHANNEL IS NOT A WAREZ CHANNEL, SO DON'T COME ASKING FOR FTPS, DISKS.
IF YOU DO, YOU WILL BE BANNED!

GREETS

The last but not the least greetings fly out to Class, Myth, Razor 1911,
Absent Friends, BIA, HZD, dF, TaZ, Underground-X, NWA, Visper and
everyone who keeps the scene alive.

For some history of the scene check out http://www.defacto2.net/toast/ .
NOTE: This site belongs to Toast of Razor1911, not us, so we won't fix
broken links there, :)

Quote of the Day

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11-May-00