Football Manager 2012: Tales, Trouncings and Triumphs

[tmp]

I don't think it cheats, but there's enough room for the random generator to work its magic during the matches, they can go very differently -- it's noticeable if you repeat the same match with the same settings a few times. Things like who goes in the match motivated and who doesn't, how many players from the first team are available, who scores first and how it affects morale of guys on the pitch, knocks and injuries, penalties, lapses in defenders' concentration, or these favourite moments when someone goes crazy and hacks the opposition down with a two-legs tackle, earning themselves red card five minutes into the match

[Ice Cream Emperor]

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of variation -- I crashed out of an easy victory only to have it go into extra time upon replay. On the other hand my team is now up to 1 loss out of 23 matches and has eclipsed the previous league record for consecutive victories by 50%.

Anyways, is there some way to get your board to raise your salary cap -- not in terms of overall available money, but in terms of the 'maximum salary' value for individual player roles? Because as mentioned my best central defender is currently asking for a renegotiated contract in which he gets paid 7k p/w more than I am even allowed to pay him (and 8k more than anyone else on the team.) This doesn't really bode well for his future at the club, or the club's future for that matter, since he's a pretty significant part of why they're doing so well.

Also despite my immaculate string of victories the club is apparently still losing like 200k a month or something absurd. We even set a new record for lowest attendance at a game. Hopefully we can score a sweet new sponsorship deal once we get promoted.

[Nebu]

I find promotion to be the greatest challenge.  You end up in a higher league with a team that has 10% of the available cash, players on the transfer list reluctant to come to your club, and struggling through the first season to convince your board to increase operating capital.  I often make extensive use of loaned players until I can get enough quality to make a mid-table run.  It's a very fun and rewarding challenge, but staying up with no money can be trying at times.

[Ice Cream Emperor]

Yeah that's what worries me -- that this might actually get worse before it gets better.

[Ice Cream Emperor]

So 30 games into the season and I still have only three losses, including finally being knocked out of the French cup in the semi-finals. We are 8 points clear of the 2nd place team and 10 points beyond the non-promotion zone.

Meanwhile I have had to pay through the nose to re-sign my two center backs, and have had my star left winger decide to sign a pre-contract with a rival club (why you would sign away from a team that is nearly-guaranteed promotion is beyond me) despite my offering him the maximum amount of money the board would allow. Then in the space of a week I lost my stalwart, experienced left back AND his talented 17-year old backup to injury -- also injured in the same period? My best striker and my best defensive midfielder. That's four injuries to starting or near-starting players in two games.

The team's best on-paper central midfielder, meanwhile, began the season in recovery from a serious (5-7 month) knee injury -- he had finally recovered from the injury and was getting some game-time in a reserves match in an effort to build up his match fitness... and pulled his groin, putting him out for another 3-4 months.

And the latest reports inform me that the club is losing $1.2m per month. Ridiculous.

[lamaros]

Meanwhile I have had to pay through the nose to re-sign my two center backs.

And the latest reports inform me that the club is losing $1.2m per month. Ridiculous.

Related?

[Ice Cream Emperor]

Barely. Together the resignings might account for like 100k of that, max. As far as I can tell the team was losing over a million a month when I first showed up -- I certainly saved them money by firing most of the ridiculously-overpaid coaching staff, if nothing else.

Edit: Of course, it's certainly not helping, either. But short of firing half the team I am not really sure what would help.

[lamaros]

From playing the game in the past I remember solutions being:

A - Get a better job once you get promoted and have a bit of stature.
B - Fire everyone on a decent wage and pick the teeth out of the transfer market, then sell these players for $$ when the become stars rather than try keep them.

[cironian]

And the latest reports inform me that the club is losing $1.2m per month. Ridiculous.

How much money did the club get at the early season ticket sales? I didn't play a top club yet, but all that I tried seem to have some negative cashflow throughout the year which is offset by the large chunk of money coming in at the beginning.

[Ice Cream Emperor]

Well after a break from the game (and some time on another manager, spent coaching a backwater squad in the North-Irish third division) I got back to my Ligue 2 team and finished out the season. Despite a sudden inability to defend from set pieces Les Hacs coasted their way to the league championship, topping the table by 11 points and losing only six matches over the season. Goal differential was an impressive +35 and unsurprisingly both my center backs (the ones I am now paying more money than I can afford) were named to the ligue's allstar eleven, along with my goalkeeper. After finally making some money over the last few months, the club eventually finished out the year with what looks like a net loss of $1M.

I won Manager of the Year too, which will hopefully help me convince the club's Board to go even further into debt helping me buy players for next year's season. They already seem to have increased my allowed number of staff, which is a good start and all, but won't do much good if they don't also find some money to help me pay said staff.

Besides hitting 'Continue' over and over I am not exactly sure what to do with the offseason, once staff are hired and a training regimen set up. I guess I should see about some good Loan players and someone to replace my turncoat left winger (who signed a pre-contract with another Ligue 2 club with 2 months left in the season.) Interestingly enough, if I had thrown our last game of the season then said club would have failed to get promoted, dooming said winger to another season of Ligue 2 play, but I couldn't quite bring myself to lose a game on purpose, especially the final home game of the season.

[Ice Cream Emperor]

Hmm, can anyone enlighten me about how loan signings work (in the game, not in real life)? I literally cannot seem to sign anyone on loan, or even make an offer for such -- the option is always grayed-out in the drop-down when I go to the Transfer Offer screen. These are players who are specifically listed as available for loan.

Relatedly, when I am doing a player search and I check the filter options to have my Assistant Coach remove 'unrealistic fee-paying loans' and 'unrealistic regular loans' the result is a completely empty search return. As in, apparently every single available player for loan is 'unrealistic' according to my Assistant Coach. Similarly, whenever I ask the AC to compile a loan report for a specific position, the result is that he cannot find anyone. This has been true across all my games, regardless of team, manager, location, etc.

Edit: Nevermind, I figured it out. (It was the transfer window.)

[Xuri]

Hm. Anyone know whether accepting a higher wage for the position as manager affects the overall wage budget available for your team? If so, I don't see why I would ever accept a pay-raise, as there's nothing you can spend your personal wealth on anyway? :P

[Ice Cream Emperor]

Hm. Anyone know whether accepting a higher wage for the position as manager affects the overall wage budget available for your team? If so, I don't see why I would ever accept a pay-raise, as there's nothing you can spend your personal wealth on anyway? :P

I haven't noticed either way; your personal wages are presumably some sort of measuring-stick of awesomeness/progress, but I've certainly wished more than once that I could garnish my own wages to hire better coaching staff.

[Stokowski]

99% sure your wages are counted in the overall finances. Although you can't negotiate a lower wage you might consider negotiating for a longer contract at the improved amount, preventing the club from force-raising your wages until the new - and now much longer - contract nears its end. Of course, that also makes you slightly less attractive to other clubs as a manager as they'd have to pay larger compensation to your current club (based on amortised contract value) to hire you, and negotiating for a longer contract implies loyalty to your current employers, which further puts off suitors. Dunno if that matters to you.

[stu]

OOtP12 is on sale from the dev's main site for $20. I'm thinking about picking it up over FM only because I'm not sure that I want to pay $40 for a sim game. Is OOtP endorsed by Major League Baseball? All of the logos I've seen from screenshots look like placeholders.

Another thing I'd like FM for is to get a better understanding of the massive amount of leagues out there. The extended downtime between matches on BF3 means I need to find something better to do than grab a beer or pour a drink while I wait.

Choices, choices. I'm just torn right now. Should I wait on a Steam sale for FM or does the price stay mostly static?

[naum]

OOtP12 is on sale from the dev's main site for $20. I'm thinking about picking it up over FM only because I'm not sure that I want to pay $40 for a sim game. Is OOtP endorsed by Major League Baseball? All of the logos I've seen from screenshots look like placeholders.

Another thing I'd like FM for is to get a better understanding of the massive amount of leagues out there. The extended downtime between matches on BF3 means I need to find something better to do than grab a beer or pour a drink while I wait.

Choices, choices. I'm just torn right now. Should I wait on a Steam sale for FM or does the price stay mostly static?

All the logos and icons in OOtP are not "official" -- they are generated, be it for MLB cities or fictional teams/leagues.

I think OOtP does the fictional league construct better -- you can create your own custom leagues with varying number of teams and playoffs and even minor leagues. But it all still feels like a spreadsheet sim and although they've added FM like elements, it just seems to lack the "soul" that FM possesses.

Don't know about pricing but I believe I picked up FM10 ~6 months after release and it was discounted.

[Ingmar]

Baseball Mogul is usually considered to be the 'best' of the baseball management sims (although I am probably a few years out of date on that) and does have all the real (and lots of historical no-longer-existing) teams.

[HaemishM]

Choices, choices. I'm just torn right now. Should I wait on a Steam sale for FM or does the price stay mostly static?

It's already been on sale on Steam for $29.99 I think. I expect it to go on sale next week during the Steam sales, and I know I picked it up for $20 this past spring.

[Nebu]

Baseball Mogul is usually considered to be the 'best' of the baseball management sims (although I am probably a few years out of date on that) and does have all the real (and lots of historical no-longer-existing) teams.

I would argue that the stats engine on Mogul is the weakest among baseball sims (compared to OOTP and Strat).  Mogul does have more personality to it, but the algorhithms are VERY easily manipulated. 

[stu]

Baseball Mogul is usually considered to be the 'best' of the baseball management sims (although I am probably a few years out of date on that) and does have all the real (and lots of historical no-longer-existing) teams.

I would argue that the stats engine on Mogul is the weakest among baseball sims (compared to OOTP and Strat).  Mogul does have more personality to it, but the algorhithms are VERY easily manipulated. 

Wow. I didn't realize/forgot that Strat-O-Matic had a PC version. I used to play the card game during winters when I was a teenager.

I tried the demo for OOtP and it didn't really grab me but I'll give it another shot. OTOH, I spent about five hours on the FM Demo before I even started my first match. I'm a sucker for the sleek look, even if the navigation confused me a little bit. I have no idea who a lot of the players are (even in the Premier League) but it's still a lot of fun.

[Ingmar]

I don't think I knew there was a PC Strat-o-matic either. Interesting.

[Nebu]

I don't think I knew there was a PC Strat-o-matic either. Interesting.

It's a bit old and dated... not to mention expensive.  I believe that you used to have to purchase the seasons individually.  Perhaps the engine has been given an upgrade since I last played with it in 99/00

[HaemishM]

For those who haven't gotten this yet, it's on sale on Steam today for 60% off, or if you already own it, you can gift it to someone for 75% off. They just released the winter updates with all the roster moves up through last week. I've barely had time to scratch the surface but just what I've seen in hour or so I've played is a big improvement over the already-fantastic 2011.

[Lucas]

For those who haven't gotten this yet, it's on sale on Steam today for 60% off, or if you already own it, you can gift it to someone for 75% off. They just released the winter updates with all the roster moves up through last week. I've barely had time to scratch the surface but just what I've seen in hour or so I've played is a big improvement over the already-fantastic 2011.

I'm finally starting a big career game and it's looking fantastic as ever, especially if you also install the facepacks, logos, kits, try out a few skins and the scoreboards.

Regarding the skin, I'm using Fahreneit and Flex 2012.

Fahrenheit:
http://sortitoutsi.net/forum/topic/54624-fahrenheit/

Flex 2012:
http://sortitoutsi.net/forum/topic/54416-flex-12/

Scoreboards look amazing:
http://www.dazs8.com/#/scoreboards/4560166878

[Amarr HM]

Got this last week and in my second season with West Ham, breezed through top of the Championship first season. Second season started off dreadful, I slumped to 12 points in 14 games even got trounced 7-2 by Spurs. Then a watershed moment occurred when I beat Arsenal 3-1, now up to 35 in 25 & looking cosy at mid table.

I've also somehow managed to compile an all-star backroom, Steven Gerrard retired at age 32 is my shooting coach, Andy Cole is an attacking coach and Martin Keown. I have Faustino Asprilla scouting South America & Roberto Baggio in Italy, very pleased with how that worked out.

Haven't played FM(CM) in about eight years but this game hasn't lost it's charm.

[Lucas]

I'm away from the Comp right now and it would be great to have an app that let you look at your team and/or the transfer market from the phone. I'm sure my efficiency in RL would not suffer... :P

[naum]

This title got shelved back in spring, and the addiction waned.

Then, recently, just finished reading Soccernomics and it compelled me to fire up FM12 and rekindled addiction, to the level unforeseen, harkening back to MMOG days (and before, old school RTS/Civ/SimCity times) where sleep, family and career time is sacrificed at the altar of a computer game.

Did a hardcore start, sitting out an entire season until taking a spot with AELK (I believe located on the island of Lesbos, though S. European natives can correct me here) in Greek B Division. Took the 14th place finisher and just missed out on a promotion to Superleague, finishing 4th, and then 2nd in the promotion stage (top 2 finishers earn automatic promotion, finishers 3-6 do a home/away round robin with the top finisher then attaining the final promotion bid). Was actually at the top of the table for several weeks before fading at the end.

Overspent on some talent and got burned as I did not realize the restrictions (can only "register" 3 non-EU players and only 2 can be in the 11 on the pitch, and 5 non-Greek players max too). A Nigerian striker for a surge found his old glory days but petered out to the end. A Brazilian playmaker sparkled far above his cited ability score, but he prone to injury and moodiness.

Just getting ready for the 2nd season at the helm, have spent a little more prudently, but snatched up some excellent defenders and a prized young AMF, at not too much dent into the salary structure, including a couple of 5 star Champion League reject prospects, who might not be ready for the big time, but should flower and dominate Greek B league ;)

Board decided to build a stadium, which is befuddling since the one squad plays in only fills up when a higher reputation squad comes to town.

[Amarr HM]

Board decided to build a stadium, which is befuddling since the one squad plays in only fills up when a higher reputation squad comes to town.

Greek-onomics 

[veredus]

Sorry about necro but didn't see a newer FM thread. Anyway FM 13 50% off on steam for like the next 5 hours.

[Nebu]

Sorry about necro but didn't see a newer FM thread. Anyway FM 13 50% off on steam for like the next 5 hours.

Any idea if the game contains anything more than a personnel update from 2012?

[HaemishM]

According to the pre-release hype, there's something like 800 new things in the game besides just new rosters. I bought it and played a good bit tonight. The 3D match engine is much improved. There's also a new mode (Classic Manager mode) that's supposed to be streamlined for those with less time to play.

[naum]

According to the pre-release hype, there's something like 800 new things in the game besides just new rosters. I bought it and played a good bit tonight. The 3D match engine is much improved. There's also a new mode (Classic Manager mode) that's supposed to be streamlined for those with less time to play.

Been holding out on pulling the trigger on this. The "Classic Manager" mode not appealing as if I want to run a streamlined sim it's going to be on a tablet. 3D match engine improvements is an enticing feature upgrade though…

[veredus]

Ya the 3D match engine looks nicer and flows better. Looks more natural.  Also after half of a season I've only seen one own goal.  Hopefully I haven't just been lucky but really felt in 12 own goals happened way too much. A lot of little changes all over the place. Training system completely redone, still figuring it out. Seems streamlined a lot from 12 so far.  Not sure I'd been happy paying $40 to upgrade from 12 but for $20 I jumped on it and don't regret it.