Have Mercy on a Newbie

And I mean newbie in several respects. First, this is clearly my first post on the forum so I am sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

Second, I just downloaded the demo for FM09 having never heard of the series whatsoever. At first it was a bit overwhelming but I find it to be exteremely engaging and would like to purchase the full version. This leads to my first question. I live in America. The American version, Worldwide Soccer Manager 09 is more readily available and about half the price of FM09. I am nervous about there being differences, though. Can someone attest to me that if I buy WSM09 I am getting the exact same game as FM09 just Americanized (Farenheit instead of Celcius, feet and inches instead of centimeters, etc . . .). If it's the same I can save a fair amount of money.

Third, I am mostly a newbie to football period. I recognize some of the major club names and a select few famous player names and know the basic rules. I am CLUELESS when it comes to strategy and tactics. I think one of the main draws is the assistant manager. I have some guidance to separate one prospect from another and what tactical changes I should make. I am following his advise as gospel at present, watching the games and learning so I can slowly start to make my own evaluations. Yet the game finds that difficult balance in getting help but still making all the decisions yourself. Anyway, the second question I have would be: what are some general strategies/tactics to be aware of? This is especially interesting because I enjoy a wide variety of sports but have never learned much about football. I relish the chance to learn another sport in depth.

Fourth, as I said, I am a newbie to the FM universe. That someone could go until just this week having never heard of a wildly popular and successful game going on almost, what, twenty years? Must seem incredible to the regulars. So, what are some quirks and strategies specific to the game that I need to be aware of as I start getting used to the game? To be honest, I was fairly surprised to see so many complaints on these forums. The game seems utterly fantastic and comprehensive to me.

I appreciate any help you can offer-especially on the first question. Thank you.

WSM is nothing more than FM for the American market. It's the same game, just regionalised.

They are practically the same just different name!

You can americanize it through display settings(yards, farenheit etc.)

Welcome to the wonderful world of FM

As for Tactics, head down The tactics forum where you will find some tactics that have done wonders for other users, any tactics questions can be asked down there

Im writing what could be long ish reply so other people will prbably beat me to it all but here goes:

Firstly welcome to the forums, you have different questions and this is a good as place as any to ask them

FM and WSM have no differences apart from an americanized name for that market. I personally play in feet and inches because I understand them and cm's just confuse me for identying the height of a player.

The good player and team guide will show you the way in terms of players and clubs.

The tactics and training forum may be of some help and there are several tactic and team talk guides in there I would recommend you read

Look through some of the tactic posts by the moderators on how to get started (they'll be in the tactics forum HuwFlet linkied). I'm a huge football fan and they still provide masses of helpful information. If I was you I'd keep things simple to start with before moving into a long career game when you are use to the many different aspects of the game.

Welcome to our game.

I hope for your sake you are neither married or have a high pressure-time consuming job.

This game will be your love life and your career as it has been for so many of us, for so many years now.

A few tips.......... stock up on, how would you guys from across the pond say it?.... "chips"?. Vitamin C tab's, Microwaveable meals and something to wet your whistle whilst playing. You are in for some very hardcore long sessions on your PC.

Enjoy!!!!

And I mean newbie in several respects. First, this is clearly my first post on the forum so I am sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

Second, I just downloaded the demo for FM09 having never heard of the series whatsoever. At first it was a bit overwhelming but I find it to be exteremely engaging and would like to purchase the full version. This leads to my first question. I live in America. The American version, Worldwide Soccer Manager 09 is more readily available and about half the price of FM09. I am nervous about there being differences, though. Can someone attest to me that if I buy WSM09 I am getting the exact same game as FM09 just Americanized (Farenheit instead of Celcius, feet and inches instead of centimeters, etc . . .). If it's the same I can save a fair amount of money.

Third, I am mostly a newbie to football period. I recognize some of the major club names and a select few famous player names and know the basic rules. I am CLUELESS when it comes to strategy and tactics. I think one of the main draws is the assistant manager. I have some guidance to separate one prospect from another and what tactical changes I should make. I am following his advise as gospel at present, watching the games and learning so I can slowly start to make my own evaluations. Yet the game finds that difficult balance in getting help but still making all the decisions yourself. Anyway, the second question I have would be: what are some general strategies/tactics to be aware of? This is especially interesting because I enjoy a wide variety of sports but have never learned much about football. I relish the chance to learn another sport in depth.

Fourth, as I said, I am a newbie to the FM universe. That someone could go until just this week having never heard of a wildly popular and successful game going on almost, what, twenty years? Must seem incredible to the regulars. So, what are some quirks and strategies specific to the game that I need to be aware of as I start getting used to the game? To be honest, I was fairly surprised to see so many complaints on these forums. The game seems utterly fantastic and comprehensive to me.

I appreciate any help you can offer-especially on the first question. Thank you.

Hello fellow North American! Welcome to the forums.

Worldwide Soccer Manager and Football Manager are exactly the same thing, and you can change the wording in the settings. The only difference is that WWSM is cheaper.

I've found out that the best tactics are the default ones. I think you should pick one of the default tactics that fit your team and go for it. Just to a little adjustment in the sliders and I think you're good to go! Although there's the tactics bible that others have told you to help.

And just a heads up, if you buy the game now and all patched up, there's a staff bug which doesn't inform you about their contracts expiring, so just remember to make a mental note for yourself to renew their contracts. They has been fixed for the next patch so you won't need those notes for long!

Please enjoy your stay!

The Demo and the actual game are essentially the same, but there are a lot of faults in the demo. Not being too familiar with football/soccer you might not notice all of them.

The BBC website will help a lot with the basics of football rules, things like off-side (the nuances of which many refs, players and pundits still argue over despite TV replays).

Something to bear in mind is that each country plays the same game to the same rules but the actual league structures and rules vary from country to country. The MLS is probably the most complicated - I've certainly never been able to master it. For example:

In England, if two teams are on even points at the end of the season, the team with highest goal difference goes above the other; in Spain, however, the first thing they look at is head-to-head results.

In England, there is no limit on foreigners signing for your club*, but in Italy you can only sign one foreigner from outside Italy.

*Further to rules on foreigners in England: you need a work permit for players from outside the EU, and to automatically qualify that player must have played in 75% of his country's international matches in the past year (not including injuries). You can get round this by having a Belgian (or Dutch or Romanian or Polish) feeder club, where you send the player for 3-4 years while he gains EU nationality. There's more to this, but I won't blow your mind too much.

I believe the rules are listed in FM, but if not the BBC or Wikipedia should give you the lowdown on various rules. Or a Google search if you are unsure.

As for FM, the game itself isn't perfect and you do get some very vocal people on here shouting about really minor faults, but for me there are very few game-breakers. There were some major problems - crashes in certain leagues, registration problems in Spain and others, some problems with clubs releasing very good players - but most of these have been fixed. There's another patch out at the end of February which should address the major ones and many, many minor ones. So if the Demo gives you a headache through issues like ridiculous injuries and things like that, don't worry too much. As an afficienado of the game from 2001 I took a while to get into this version, but it's grown on me in a big way.

Welcome aboard.

(If you want a simpler introduction to the series, google "CM01/02 free" - it's a free and legal download of an older version of the game, but there's a patch that gives all up to date signings. Commentary only match engine, but the mechanics of the game are all there - signings, sales, etc. Worth checking out while you wait for patch 9.0.3).

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=68744

this is probably a good thread to read, a lot of useful info given to answer the questions of anther American Newbie.

Post 8 by Amaroq (who is also American, and widely respected on here) gives most of the basic info and a lot of other useful links

Hope that helps, oh and welcome!

Welcome to our game.

I hope for your sake you are neither married or have a high pressure-time consuming job.

This game will be your love life and your career as it has been for so many of us, for so many years now.

A few tips.......... stock up on, how would you guys from across the pond say it?.... "chips"?. Vitamin C tab's, Microwaveable meals and something to wet your whistle whilst playing. You are in for some very hardcore long sessions on your PC.

Enjoy!!!!

Ain't that the truth!

I'm American and knew nothing about about "football" until I started playing WWSM in Dec. I am now addicted to this game and the sport. The people here in the forums are very friendly and are willing to help you out. For tactics just go to the tactic forum and do a lot of reading. I would suggest a basic 4-4-2 formation. Download the TT&F guide !!

and you might want to start with a big team (man-u, chelsea, arsenal )until you understand how the game works.

Watch Fox soccer, they show EPL games. Helps out a lot.Get some magazines, books,etc. read these forums and in no time you'll be seduced by the beautiful game.

If you have any questions ,just ask.

http://pc.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=17211

Here try looking at this, its quite a good basic guide of the main aspects of football manager or worldwide soccer management. has a link at the bottom to the part 2 as well. enjoy.

I do have a wife and a four month old son. A full-time job but not demanding. I approach this with trepidation because last night I looked at the clock and it told me three hours had passed when it was CLEARLY only 20 minutes. This is especially bad when there were several household chores I had intended to do once I got my next attempt "installed and found my job."

My passion will always be American football, especially the college game. But it has a very long offseason and I can't get into draft rumors, recruiting, or preseason prognostication. And while I like most every sport, they don't hold my interest for too long at a time. Maybe "futbol" will fill the gap, courtesy of FM09. I've wanted to get more into the game for some time but there are a lot of barriers in the States, especially when you have a family and a job and no home internet and only broadcast television.

Thanks for pointing out those links, I'll be sure to check them out.

I do have a wife and a four month old son. A full-time job but not demanding. I approach this with trepidation because last night I looked at the clock and it told me three hours had passed when it was CLEARLY only 20 minutes.

You'll also suffer from "one more game syndrome", which usually entails telling yourself THIS will be my last match of the night, but then you lose it and have to win the next one, but then the one after that is a big cup game, and then you're in the transfer window, and then you just HAVE to play ONE game with the new signings, and so on...

This is one lethal game you've bought.

Oh, and stick with it, even if you don't get the hang of it at first. When your wife kicks you out for playing it too much it'll be your best friend.

I do have a wife and a four month old son. A full-time job but not demanding. I approach this with trepidation because last night I looked at the clock and it told me three hours had passed when it was CLEARLY only 20 minutes. This is especially bad when there were several household chores I had intended to do once I got my next attempt "installed and found my job."

I have wife, a son and a daughter but still can find enough time to play as long as I do it in the living room (used to be in my office).

Get used to the time flies when having fun evenings/nights while playing, as you'll also suffer from "one more game syndrome" *

And welcome to the beautiful world of FM.

* thanks to backpackant for boring his nice words I used as well.