How in hell do you all get through your games so fast...???

I've been playing what I'd call pretty solidly (factoring in work and home life), and I've spent weeks on the one game save and I'm still entering my Scottish First Division season with Greenock Morton.

Yet here I am reading about some of you blokes who've got game saves running all the way through to 2015!

Am I overanalysing my game? I've tried to speed up things by saving formations and team selections, that seems to have shaved a lot of time off my preparations, but I often find myself still tweaking things as I'm entering a match.

I also deeply consider what signings I make - I often skirt the boundaries of budgets and have financial problems to negotiate, hence the deep consideration.

So, am I just being too anal and overpreparing?

I will say, though, my season's going okay so far. As mentioned, I'm only just entering the season, but I managed to scalp West Brom 3-2 in a rockin' come from behind friendly victory, and I've also held my own against Rangers in another friendly with a depleted team, going down 2-0 to two unlucky goals early in the match.

I've only just finished my first season, that's playing it all night, on the train to and from work, and on my lunch break. (Might have been 2 seasons but i'm managing 2 different teams at the same time.) and I got it opening day.

I'm like you. It takes me a long while to progress through the game and i do wonder how others progress season after season. Well, actually, no i don't - they watch highlights in Key while i watch in Full Match. That's the difference. For me, one match takes around an hour. I haven't really got stuck into FM10 yet, but in previous FM's it usually takes me about a month to finish one season i'd say.

Hi, i have done 2 friendlies and 1 reserve team match + before that all a 1st vs reserve team match. I dont know when im gonna complete season 1 though i am enjoying this game alot. I like the 3d match engine alot. Great to see when your team are confident or playing well, one of the two that you see your team doing very nice moves, running well. In general seeing the team play very good. So good to watch. I havent played managing game for awhile 4 years 5 perhaps and so took me abit of time to get used to things again. I played the FM'10 demo though so knew something before getting into main game.

I changed up my staff. took awhile for me to address this criteria; scouts,coaches...blah blah . Then i had to check out my teams, im going the full way and managing all the teams. 1st reserve u18's.

At the moment i am concentrating on loaning out my players then I think i will need to look into any players to bring in. Im on July 25th in game i think, still havent started league xD. I dont mind. I actually wonder how much of game i will play through-season? Maybe 3 i might get through before next game? The thing is i think that actually taking over a team and especially at the start of the game might be abit of a labourius task at 1st. Then when this is sorted it might go quite smoothly.

In which case maybe ill get upto 5 seasons in this game or couple/few years more ;P. I really get into everything in game. This way i dont think i got excuse if i lose whatever cup lol.

Ok, bit tired now i think. Im sure what i wrote was quite relevant and maybe bit extra info. nn

edit-what id llike to see in my game is very good profits from players i have [as in selling them, when and if]

i watch in extended-highlights also

Some don't need much attention to detail and just blast their way through. Some don't like real players in their game and holiday through a number of seasons. Some like to brag about being a number of seasons in and holiday through.

EDIT: some people holiday match days :confused:

It normally takes me about 24hrs to 30hrs of playing time to finish a season... guess its normal...but sincerely i dont have much time to play...unfortunately

i have just started season 2 and bought the game the day it came out. i have to work and have also got a life so i dont have time to progress quickly. i think some people on here must be on the game nearly all the time they are awake!!!

I'm a couple of months into the game and I got the game 2 weeks ago... Being at uni means I don't have an awful amount of free time thats actually mine what with work, gym and drinking of course lol. Not to mention my mac is hit and miss of if it doesn't spit my disc out when I put it into the machine so I rarely get a go.

It has, however, accepted the disc so I shall be playing it in an hour when I get back from my lecture.... for 2 hours before real football... *sigh* I miss the days where I could spend 8+ hours straight playing FM.

Ive been on holiday since the game came out. Hence my rapid progress.

I think ive just got into 2015, i did spend two seasons with chesterfield, left and joined excelsior playing 1 1/2 seasons, joined watford for the rest of the season. I got sacked, was unemployed for a while and now im at Club Brugge. I do play the game most nights as soon as im in from work to when i get to bed ( around 11 ish).

Only commitments is my other half, but i mainly see her Monday Friday Saturday.

So i do get alot of game time in.

I've been playing my current save for 1 day, 4 hours, 14 mins. And I'm only at January 16th 2010.

I spend loads of time trawling through different nations looking for players, I also watch near enough every other reserve games as well to monitor players first hand....

Unemployed, unemployable, ugly, single student types I'm guessing.

I'm just getting to Dec on my game ;-)

I have played about three seasons with Liverpool and i got the game the week it came out. I dont have highlights switched on and dont watch the game i exit tv mode and watch home my team are getting on from the varous veiws on spilt screen mode. This week i started another game with aberdeen and played it quite alot now i am at january and doing well sill in the euro cup. Although the next round of euro cup takes me to Lyon! :S

First season with Inter took me over 3 days of playing time and I am not really doing anything funny. Just takes a hell of a lot of your time!

Takes me about 15 playing hours to do a season.

I go on holiday between games (apart from periods I'm trying to sign a player).

I'm into 2015 on my save. I never watch the games (3d or 2d) and never view any highlights. Just watch the game in commentary using the stats available to assess how my team is playing (as well as my gut feeling on how certain games might pan out)

Fairly rapid progress being made

I've completed 4 seasons on my West Ham game...it's mainly due to so much free time at the moment

I'm unemployed for the moment...and once I've done about 2 hours of job hunting, I've generally exhausted all my options, so I turn to FM.

My mate and I also have FM sessions, where we both play our games round his or my house, helping each other out and listening to music while we play.

I do spend a lot of time designing my tactics at first, and I go in depth with signings, so I take much longer than most people...it's just that I've also got a lot of free time.

Got the game a week or so after release, and I've spent about 3 days in total on the game in real time.

Im on 2019, I dont start my new job until January so have nothing to do from Monday morning til Friday afternoon and play it pretty much non stop in that time. Bit sad I know but I dumped my girlfriend so would just be sitting staring at the tv if I wasnt playing

I watch on key highlights because its pointless watching on any other level when you can predict what will happen on every move.

I dont analyse the game constantly. If I'm not playing well I will spend sometime seeing where I can improve. I leave it to my scouts October-December and February-May so dont spend alot of time looking for players in these periods, other than those recommended. In my experience tinkering too much just causes more problems, especially with regards to tactics (once you have one that suit).

Im on 2019, I dont start my new job until January so have nothing to do from Monday morning til Friday afternoon and play it pretty much non stop in that time. Bit sad I know but I dumped my girlfriend so would just be sitting staring at the tv if I wasnt playing

I watch on key highlights because its pointless watching on any other level when you can predict what will happen on every move.

I dont analyse the game constantly. If I'm not playing well I will spend sometime seeing where I can improve. I leave it to my scouts October-December and February-May so dont spend alot of time looking for players in these periods, other than those recommended. In my experience tinkering too much just causes more problems, especially with regards to tactics (once you have one that suit).

Whs. Only im not in 2019. 2 days ago i started a new season with Man Utd on a custom league and after about 5 hours playing time im at January and ready to go for Dzeko who thinks Man Utd are an inferior team to Wolfsburg:mad:

Its all about how much you analyse the stats.

takes me about 6 hours a season.

If I am honest I do not have a life it is sad I know but I do not but I do not spend every waking hour playing fm just when I am at home

takes me about 6 hours a season.

Wow, how :confused: it takes me about 18 hours or so... which shows how sad it really is that im in 2019. I dont think I could do a season in 6 hours no matter what I did.

Take your time and enjoy it. Don't rush it because all that will happen is you will lose interest in the save.

It doesn't matter what other people are doing. Just enjoy your save game and play at your own pace.

Regards,

C.

The first couple in-game months of a new save take forever - setting tactics, evaluating every player on the club, building up a scouting portfolio, buying/selling players - but once that's settled, the season tends to go faster and faster; even the next offseason is faster than the initial. I'm familiar with my players & tactics, able to know what to tweak and when, have a pretty steady roster (save a few additions or subtractions). But take it at your own pace, that's really the best suggestion.

I'm still only in October 2009 with a game I started about two weeks ago. I don't get much time to play it and when I do play it, I tend not to be in any rush.

Currently, I'm at 20hrs 53mins with Liverpool, and I'm only at the end of November in my first season. I'm the Steve Davis of FM

I think some people just watch key highlights set to the fastest speed, all as I can think of, takes me about 24 hours per season and I watch key set to normal speed.

Wow, how :confused: it takes me about 18 hours or so... which shows how sad it really is that im in 2019. I dont think I could do a season in 6 hours no matter what I did.

Well i did spend 2 days sorting out my tactics for the save, I dont seem to get any improvment in changing things around in fm10 mid season so i dont bother and get threw one pritty fast. With this poor defence in ME i just play very attacking football and keep pushing ball up field, which ill have to agree with other posts it wont keep me intrested long

I have a job where I can play pretty much 6 of the 8 hours Im there

Been playing about 1-2 hours a day at home aswell, and never watch 3D. Like the oldschool style were u kinda "feel" whats gonna happen by watching the speed and/or type of comments. And I look at the individual stats of my players.

Have one savegame with Harrogate town in 2018, one with Inter in 2014, and a few 1-2 seasons with athl. Madrid and Valencia

Come to think of it, Im actually a professional, seeing as my employer pays me to play FM !! (unknowingly, but whattahell )

What is your job Spirre?

what I dont get is if you dont watch on 2d or 3d, how do you administer the in match orders? Ive tried to use split screen and cant get my head around how to make quick tactical changes, or do the in game orders. I end up on 3d engine key highlights only, 1 notch below the fastest, but even then you do seem to miss a lot of commentary between highlight clips.

I like to go though my game slowly,whats the point in trying to finish a seson in 4 hours and how cann you enjoy that.

I have to be honest, I can go days without playing FM because I'm too worried about my next match.

Take your time and enjoy it. Don't rush it because all that will happen is you will lose interest in the save.

It doesn't matter what other people are doing. Just enjoy your save game and play at your own pace.

Regards,

C.

Absolutely.

That's the great thing about this game, is that once it is purchased, it is your game, and you can play it as you feel is right for you. There is no one particular way to play, and each can discover for themselves, how they most enjoy playing, whether that be racing to the 2054 Season in a couple of days; ...

taking a whole year to get through a season, or somewhere in between.

Back in FM05, I was still getting though games pretty quickly myself, but since 06, I discovered the beauty of slower game play. It has certainly made it far easier to keep my interest in a save going for a long time.

I play each game on full match mode, which coupled with work and family commitments, allows me to maybe get through one or two games a night, with maybe a couple more on a day off.

It is just the focus which alters. Whereas previously my focus would be to get through a season in a week, and concentrate upon rising to the top quickly, and focusing upon building my Club's world domination over a sustained proud history.

I now look forward to coming home and playing a game a night, in the same manner as I spend the week (in real life) looking forward all week to watching Saints play at the weekend; I now look forward during the day, to my nightly FM fixture.

Sure, it's a completely different way of playing, but for me, I enjoy the more 'real time' feel of playing this way. Managing my squad on a more 'day to day' (rather than season to season) basis, also just seems to add an extra feeling of 'authenticity' to the game for me.

But however you like to play, whether it's a sprint or a marathon, just enjoy the game; the way you like to enjoy it.

Absolutely.

That's the great thing about this game, is that once it is purchased, it is your game, and you can play it as you feel is right for you. There is no one particular way to play, and each can discover for themselves, how they most enjoy playing, whether that be racing to the 2054 Season in a couple of days; ...

taking a whole year to get through a season, or somewhere in between.

Back in FM05, I was still getting though games pretty quickly myself, but since 06, I discovered the beauty of slower game play. It has certainly made it far easier to keep my interest in a save going for a long time.

I play each game on full match mode, which coupled with work and family commitments, allows me to maybe get through one or two games a night, with maybe a couple more on a day off.

It is just the focus which alters. Whereas previously my focus would be to get through a season in a week, and concentrate upon rising to the top quickly, and focusing upon building my Club's world domination over a sustained proud history.

I now look forward to coming home and playing a game a night, in the same manner as I spend the week (in real life) looking forward all week to watching Saints play at the weekend; I now look forward during the day, to my nightly FM fixture.

Sure, it's a completely different way of playing, but for me, I enjoy the more 'real time' feel of playing this way. Managing my squad on a more 'day to day' (rather than season to season) basis, also just seems to add an extra feeling of 'authenticity' to the game for me.

But however you like to play, whether it's a sprint or a marathon, just enjoy the game; the way you like to enjoy it.

Brilliantly said

I'm in the year 2022 right now. I basically holiday through almost every match day. I seriously don't have the patience to tinker with the tactics or even watch every match, I will go back and watch some of the highlights, but mostly I play the game just to scout players, make the right signings, and build a strong team over longer periods of time. I guess some people think that defeats the purpose of the game but I find it makes it more enjoyable for myself as it doesn't require as much of a commitment, you can just holiday and do other things while the game plays.

I also really just like seeing how the game's world progresses many years into the future, which makes me too impatient to play slow games.

Takes me 24 hrs to do a season. I only watch key highlights on fast and full match for the big games. I've had the game since release but it took me a while to settle on a team to manage (ended up at Arsenal). That said I also have a network save with a friend of mine, who likes to rush through so that was done on commentary only and forced continue after 1 min so we've already done a season on that ( I finished second with Inter, while he was sacked at xmas - oh how I laughed), whereas I'm only in November in my single player game cos I'm all about the long game.

There are definitely some players who play FM too fast, they probably miss a lot of the features of FM

What is your job Spirre?

Working as a security advisor at a big hotel, so I sit around in a office with lots of monitors and video-surveillance and occasionally do some fire-safety work. My day-to-day chores set me back approx. 30mins of the 8 hours, and thing that "pop up" during the day another 1h or so give or take. Unless there is some famous person in the hotel tho, then I actually have to work, but this is only for a few days each week maximum

Cushy this time last year I was getting paid to work from home while I finished Uni and just sat playing FM all day pretending I was working

i have plenty of time as im currently looking for a job which is not going well im in 2012 after having a few mess around games before playing the current save

Steam tells me:

75.4 hrs past two weeks / 101.5 hrs in total.

I'm in March in my fourth season of my first game. Guess it takes me a while to do things too. I do like to plan stuff out rather than just spin through games. Could also be my laptop is mince.