FSL: Agricultural simulator goes eSport at FarmCon 2019

One can only speculate about the fascinating success of the Farming Simulator anyway. What the Agricultural Simulator 19 has achieved, industry experts probably didn’t think possible. The game has been released for PC/Mac, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. For a long time one of the best-selling games in Germany, the LS19 still ranks high in the charts six months after its release. But what the recipe for success is, it should not be speculated about at this point. Rather, the simulation game developed by Giants Software and published by Focus Home Interactive now surprises with another facet: eSport.

The FSL at FarmCon 19

The Farming Simulator League 2019-2020 (FSL) is set to kick off at FarmCon 19, which is typically held at the technology centre of the major agricultural machinery manufacturer CLAAS in Harsewinkel, Germany. The start of the series heralds the first season of the League with the first tournaments. The FarmCon and the LS19 competitions will take place on July 27th and 28th. On this first tournament prizes with a total value of 11.000 Euro will be awarded to the winning teams. Community teams will compete against official squads sponsored by the manufacturer.

FSL Game Mode

For the eSports version of the Farming Simulator, Giants Software has come up with its own rules. Two teams (red and blue) compete against each other in the 15-minute matches. Each team consists of three players. One of them is named Captain. A match is divided into several phases.

First, the team is set up, then the ban phase follows. The two captains decide which vehicles will not be available for the match. If all bans are set, the vehicle selection follows. Each player selects a vehicle one after the other (each is only available once). The teams should take care to occupy both combine harvesters (Harvester) and hay presses (Balers). Each vehicle has its own characteristics and advantages.

Finally, the captains choose their two Power Plays. These are different game modifications or team characteristics that give an individual boost. Then the game begins.

This is how a match works

The goal of a match is to score the most points with your team. For this, hay must be harvested from a field. In order for a sporting competition to take place, an extra match card was designed. This mirrored area consists of 5 different zones. Even if everyone acts on his side, you have the opposing team in view all the time. This is also necessary because some elements run synchronously (more about this later).

The first area is the spawning zone. Here each team has 10 seconds to get on a drivable vehicle quickly. Here the team members can also change their vehicles, but this happens on foot – the teleport is deactivated here. Motorized they then enter the Part Zone as quickly as possible.

This second zone is mirrored again on both sides of the team. The agricultural machines necessary for the match are available on 8 pedestals. However, the sockets are synchronized. As soon as a vehicle has been boarded on one side, the green light changes to the red light and the device is blocked for the opposing team. So there’s a hurry here. With this selection it is possible to win the match in a Quick Run: If a team grabs all harvesters and hay presses, the round is decided.

The actual match takes place on the field zone. Here it is now a matter of harvesting the corn as quickly as possible with the vehicles that have been grabbed and bringing it to the fourth, the drop zone. There it can either be delivered directly for 10 points or via a treadmill, the latter increases the point multiplier. This is, by the way, a soft play element, it rises in the course of the match and increases the speed of the treadmill.

If a team manages to reach the highest level, the opponent’s treadmill suffers a defect and has to be repaired with further charges. Important for the delivery of the grain are the two bridges leading to the drop zone. These are raised and lowered synchronously by both teams. Here, too, you have to be fast to avoid traffic jams.

About the end of the first half, two power-ups appear in the form of drones floating above the field. Whoever reaches the drone first decides to boost either wheat or hay bales. The modification then applies to both teams.

The last possibility to increase the multiplier is the fifth zone. The small village next door contains a silo, where the grain can also be unloaded. By the way, the first delivery of grain from the fastest team will be rewarded with a double point bonus.