Long term games are rubbish

It seems to me that AI clubs buy crap players especially when you are several seasons in resulting in making the game so easy to dominate. I also find that transfers are hugely biased to the league that you are managing in. I have about 10 countries loading up but whenever i get 5/6 years in to a game it just becomes to easy. Anybody else find this? Surely the transfer system has to be changed so that AI clubs bid for better players and demand higher transfer fees. Maybe SI does this on purpose so people keep buying the new versions instead of playing long-term saves. RANT OVER

I noticed on the first season teams seem to have a fetish for getting old 33-37 year old players. espiecialyl on the free. And good clubs too.

I love a good long term game and although some good clubs, mainly man utd and arsenal are wasting money on bad players chelsea have done pretty well and have signed good youth prospects. One danish MC wonderkid in particular looks set to take over from Lampard and do a good job.

The transfer system is greatly improved from last version when teams would never sign young players no matter what their potential is unless they're good enough to play for their first team and teams used splash out on players and then only play them one or two games a year.

Sure there could be more improvements but SI are making progress and i think they're doing a good job of it.

4-5 seasons for me n its restart time, not played a game in a while-waiting for the v3 to inject life back into it. why does crouch always learn CB by around the 4/5 season for whoever he is playing for-i can't think of any1 less likely to play CB.

I love a good long term game and although some good clubs, mainly man utd and arsenal are wasting money on bad players chelsea have done pretty well and have signed good youth prospects. One danish MC wonderkid in particular looks set to take over from Lampard and do a good job.

The transfer system is greatly improved from last version when teams would never sign young players no matter what their potential is unless they're good enough to play for their first team and teams used splash out on players and then only play them one or two games a year.

Sure there could be more improvements but SI are making progress and i think they're doing a good job of it.

transfers are naff. i sell riga and obadeyi (from bolton) to arsenal, they both go straight in the reserves and leave the next year

transfers are naff. i sell riga and obadeyi (from bolton) to arsenal, they both go straight in the reserves and leave the next year

better than last year when i saw Chelsea sign Diego for 25m and they only played him in 2 or 3 games a year.

4-5 seasons for me n its restart time, not played a game in a while-waiting for the v3 to inject life back into it. why does crouch always learn CB by around the 4/5 season for whoever he is playing for-i can't think of any1 less likely to play CB.

When Spurs were going through a bit of a defensive injury crisis at the start of this season, one of the first people in a lot of people's thoughts to help out defensively was Peter Crouch. He's good at keeping the ball and he's one of the tallest players in the league. Needs must, and all that.

I'm really enjoying my long term save but i tend not to worry too much what the AI does/doesn't do.

better than last year when i saw Chelsea sign Diego for 25m and they only played him in 2 or 3 games a year.

this bug is not gone though. juve have bought a 18 year old winger for 26M. in 1 and a half years he has played 1 league match.

I'm really enjoying my long term save but i tend not to worry too much what the AI does/doesn't do.

Same here. I play my game with strict LLM rules. I enjoy it and its a challenge either way. I personally haven't seen a big problem. Don't see why there needs to be a daily thread whining about poor AI transfers.

Anyway, no single team remains at the top forever. Nobody would of ever pictured Nottingham Forest 30 years ago being where they are now. But if Man Utd, Liverpool or Arsenal get relegated from the premiership on FM, people go ape and post 30 threads about what B.S. the game is.

Same here. I play my game with strict LLM rules. I enjoy it and its a challenge either way. I personally haven't seen a big problem. Don't see why there needs to be a daily thread whining about poor AI transfers.

Anyway, no single team remains at the top forever. Nobody would of ever pictured Nottingham Forest 30 years ago being where they are now. But if Man Utd, Liverpool or Arsenal get relegated from the premiership on FM, people go ape and post 30 threads about what B.S. the game is.

I agree. There are alot of people you whine about almost anything. People have got to remember that this is a game and no software is ever perfect.

I any case people do pass through a year in a week or whatever so you have to adapt you brain to what is happening that much quicker. It is not real life so don't expect it to be!

I am amazed sometimes how accurate a prediction it can be!

Sometimes it's a bit stupid that AI teams spend like 50 million on a player and decides to bench him for the whole season, and the worse thing is the player doesn't even get upset about that. He is 'happy to be part of the club' even though he has not played a single game for the whole season.

Sometimes it's a bit stupid that AI teams spend like 50 million on a player and decides to bench him for the whole season, and the worse thing is the player doesn't even get upset about that. He is 'happy to be part of the club' even though he has not played a single game for the whole season.

Wouldn't you be happy if you were on the books at Barca or Man Utd, even if you didn't play a second of football?

I'm starting to get sick of my save. There just isnt any decent players left in the game. Theres hundreds of MC's but no other positions.

Another thing, the computer wont sell these back up ability players for anything less than 20million.

I tried to buy an average rotation left back valued at 2.5 million, who was 26 never played for his country, never likely to and the comp wouldnt accept anything less than 18million. Yet they come making offers for my good players and offer less than they are worth and over 48 months, plus a waste of space next sale fee because they know will never sell him.

Then my good MC who has played well in the premiership for 4 seasons was an absolute star in the championship is offered out to clubs for 2m and I dont get a single offer.

An average 18 year old regen is 12 million.

I tried to buy a decent stiker from the championship and 18million was turned down. 18 million for a 27 year old striker playing in the championship? West ham came along and bought him for 30million. He never gets a game.

Zirkhov comes to mind, Aqalanni (forgive the spelling)

This happens in real life

Barcelona signed Ryan Shawcross for 9mil and Shay Given for 4mil and Joleen Lescott for 11mil. Now someone please say that these transfers are not wrong in anyway

Happens all the time in real life. Look at Anelka that should explain it all. He shines, he flops, he shines, he flops... Albert Luque is the most expensive guy everywhere and he never plays.

And so many others sheva, denilson all real life examples. Top players payed alot and always benched.

and before anyone says I have large database with leagues from 10 countries turned on so there are not a lack of players

Happens all the time in real life. Look at Anelka that should explain it all. He shines, he flops, he shines, he flops... And so many others sheva, denilson all real life examples. Top players payed alot and always benched.

They aren't signed and then straight away benched for the whole season, if a club spends 18+ on a player they are going to get a chance in the 1st team in real life

Long term games are indeed crap, yet again. The last decent long term game I had was on FM05. The game becomes horribly unbalanced after about ten seasons. Regens are still pretty crap in the long run - defenders with shocking physical stats, strikers with rubbish mental stats and so on are far too frequent.

They should just go back to the old method of recycling the original players, it made for much better long term games.

And please, sort out manager transfer ai. It's been getting worse for the last 3 releases at least. The top clubs just buy 30+ players and have no idea about squad management.

I'm starting to feel that managers buy players according to their JCA/JPA abilities. Thus a good manager with crappy JCA/JPA stats can ruin a whole club. Anybody else made that observation?

I'm really enjoying my long term save but i tend not to worry too much what the AI does/doesn't do.

Same here. I play my game with strict LLM rules. I enjoy it and its a challenge either way.

These two posts sum up my opinion on the matter.

Some people seem to be so prone to exaggeration. Obviously there is room for improvement (there always is) but personally I'm having a lot of fun on my current long-term save.

I was thinking it was a problem with reputation or PA, which would explain why they spend millions on 33 year old Michael Owen or 38 year old Totti. Maybe they go for PA without regarding age?

Wouldn't you be happy if you were on the books at Barca or Man Utd, even if you didn't play a second of football?

Depends on your personality really. If you value football over money then I guess you wouldn't be happy. If it's the money your interested in then you'd obviously be exstatic.

one thing i hate with transfers if i want a young talent will cost me a daft price but if i get bids for any of my young talent its a daft 3 or 4 million

for me, its the biggest problem in football manager and borders on being a game breaker

i love to take a shat team from obscurity to the prem, but by the time i get there the likes of john terry are 53 and still on 150k a week and most big teams have all but bankrupted themselves with ridiculous signings

The system is still one of the few areas that hasn't had a massive revamp, yet it is massively flawed.

SI changed it so AI managers widened their short lists , which had the effect of bigger teams signing lots of mid level players they will never play ( example in my current save , this season the top 6 in the EPL have bought 41 players , of which 5 have started more than 5 games)

The AI also does not have to pay anything like the fee's we pay to other AI clubs ( really go look at what you have to pay for the likes of Jovetic or Gourcuff compared to what the AI is paying ) and they continue to offer crappy value over 48 month deals when trying to buy our players. Add in the ludicrous loan fees ( I know it happens in real life, but paying millions for loans is not the norm ) and the hyper inflated prices clubs want for fringe/squad/youth players and you have a fundamentally broken transfer module.

The transfer module is probably the last remaining relic from the early days of the series, and it really is in desperate need of reworking

On a side not if you play by strict LLM rules , or as have others have said " pay no attention to what the AI is doing" why bother posting your opinion in this thread, just because you are ignorant of the problem does not mean the problem does not exist.

I agree with the OP, long term games are rubbish but I think its because there will be a new edition of the game and they dont want to have ppl not buying it.

The AI, for being a computer does seem rather thick imo.

I agree with the OP, long term games are rubbish but I think its because there will be a new edition of the game and they dont want to have ppl not buying it.

The AI, for being a computer does seem rather thick imo.

Well, the AI is not stupid - it is just limited in what it can and cannot do. Computers on their own are not "smart", they just run instructions.

It is however much more limited than it should be, particularly seeing as we're into version 6 of this particular program.

Well, the AI is not stupid - it is just limited in what it can and cannot do. Computers on their own are not "smart", they just run instructions.

It is however much more limited than it should be, particularly seeing as we're into version 6 of this particular program.

Well then we must conclude that someone is not doing their job properly. However that sounds too accusatory for my liking.

Well then we must conclude that someone is not doing their job properly. However that sounds too accusatory for my liking.

It's not a case of someone is not doing their job , the transfer module is simply the same one we have had for 10 years with little tweaks and changes every year. Unless I am wrong , training and transfers are the only 2 features tjat haven't recieved a major overhaul since before the switch from CM to FM.

The transfer market was advertised as being one of the main places of improvement with FM10, was it not?

Another thing they need to sort out is the wage demands.

If a player is transfer listed at a big club, unhappy that he hasnt played first team football for 3 years, why when you go to buy them do they expect to get paid more than what the big club is paying them.? I can understand some players being happy to sit in the reserves earning for nothing (well I'm not sure I do because they are still playing reserve games and training) but the majority would prefer to leave on a lower salary to rebuild their career.

Thats why Frank lampard and Steven Gerrard and the likes sit in the reserves transfer listed till the end of their careers with no offers because there wage demands make no clubs in the world able to afford them. Not that I think a club would treat their legends like that in real life.

They need to learn once they have past their best too keep on playing they need to lower their demands and not expect 50k a week more. Or they might as well retire.

The transfer market was advertised as being one of the main places of improvement with FM10, was it not?

Yes, and the "fixes" made it worse imho , now instead of managers having no interest in players, half the world wants every players, which has been the cause of the likes of man city and chelsea buying 10 players every summer and playing 1 of them.

There has to be a Balance somewhere, If an AI club is buying it should be because they are improving the squad, or fleshing the squad out , and finally, signing youth. Not because the AI had their shortlists tweaked so they now want everyone withinn a certain CA range.

There is no way I as rangers manager should be seeing Chelsea , Arsenal , 10 European teams from top leagues etc etc all fighting for the signature of Kyle Lafferty ( he went to Chelsea, hasn't even played for their reserves 2 years in)

They don't test things enough. I'm sure of it. They always say "we have an extensive testing policy" but it never rings true.

With the match engine tweaks constantly making the game worse, or introducing some major new annoyance and so on, there is no evidence that they do enough game play testing.

In 09, big clubs didn't buy new players, so they made them buy too many crappy ones. No evidence of just running holiday games to see what happens - it would be an easy spot.

Short term games are rubbish also, by the way.

So are middle term games.

I find Man Utd always splash out on Gary Cahill, then don't play him, then transfer list him and sell him by season 2.

Love FM, but this problem of same transfers happening and the AI being rubbish at transfers and regen problems have been around for a long time now.

They don't test things enough. I'm sure of it. They always say "we have an extensive testing policy" but it never rings true.

With the match engine tweaks constantly making the game worse, or introducing some major new annoyance and so on, there is no evidence that they do enough game play testing.

In 09, big clubs didn't buy new players, so they made them buy too many crappy ones. No evidence of just running holiday games to see what happens - it would be an easy spot.

I have to agree. Either the testers spend their time chatting and trying to sign the same "names" or they have a tea/coffee/biccies and head off home. It makes no sense as holiday games don't prove anything and if someone is testing the game they cant be playing it as if it was their own copy. Still the mistakes are so glaringly obvious that to ignore them makes things worse. Problem is they add so many new things and then those have mistakes that ppl demand those be fixed and the other things are simply forgotten.

They don't test things enough. I'm sure of it. They always say "we have an extensive testing policy" but it never rings true.

Why don't you get involved in beta testing then?

Because I don't live in London?

That and because, I have heard from testers that stuff I would have reported as pretty important were ignored or piled way down the list.

Because I don't live in London?

You don't have to live in London. It was pretty much advertised on these forums in the run up to FM10 testing. Where were you?

That and because, I have heard from testers that stuff I would have reported as pretty important were ignored or piled way down the list.

Who said that or are you just making it up?

Honestly, get involved in beta testing if you think you could better. Then at least you will be in a position to criticise rather than just making assumptions about how the process works.

Several people have said that, it was around the release of FM09.

Besides that, do you think I have time?

Why can't people post problems with the game without being told to test it? they already employ people for that ffs.

I was referring to the fact that you were criticising the testing of the game without getting involved yourself and without knowing anything about it in the first place.

Honestly, get involved in beta testing if you think you could better. Then at least you will be in a position to criticise rather than just making assumptions about how the process works.

i've got to object to that sentiment

its up not to a customer to volunteer to make the product they buy better

do people think the 'transfer problem' is a limitation of current technology, or its that SI are putting more emphasis on eye catching features like press conferences and 3D graphics?

i really hope its the first one

I was referring to the fact that you were criticising the testing of the game without getting involved yourself and without knowing anything about it in the first place.

But I do know about it, as I've been in a number of these threads where people who have tested the program have shed some light on the process. There were also blogs that Miles posted before the release of FM10.

You can't just sit there and say "you can't do any better so don't say anything" because that's absolute tosh.

@ atonement - I hope they weren't putting emphasis on either because they're both poor. The 3d looks dated and the press conferences are akin to mmo grinding.

@ atonement - I hope they weren't putting emphasis on either because they're both poor. The 3d looks dated and the press conferences are akin to mmo grinding.

i agree, im strictly 2D and 'no comment' at press conferences

i meant, i hope SI arent spending time on things like 3D and press conferences to the detriment of game breakers like the transfer system and the regen problem

Wakers - all I see is constant complaints from you about your disappointment with aspects of the game. It is the same for every new version. You also have a tendency to make assumptions that the testing is not of the standard that you expect.

I would have thought you'd be really keen to get involved behind the scenes and to give SI the benefit of your opinions about the game.

To be a full time tester you have to live in London. I would have been interested in that.

As for "constant complaining" this is my first trek into GD since FM10 was released. I might also add, on release of FM 10 I was praising the game.

Sadly this is a problem with FM10, the big clubs dont really make big signings and decline, so you end up with one club pushing for the title with you, if that.......

On my main save in 10.1 only Man City kept up with me after the first 2 seasons, but after 10 seasons or so when the real life players got old and began to retire they also declined and i could win the league in March/April every single season. They actually spent a huge ammount every summer but it got to the point where they were spending 30 million on 31-32 year olds which kept them going for another 2 seasons or so.

The AI managers need to be improved to make the game harder and keep it interesting.

There must be loads of people testing the game. Either they dont listen or they cant fix it.

What I cant understand is how they get it somethings right some years then shaft the same things up the next year, and instead of perfecting what they got add some crazy feature which makes things worse.

Why would a combination of the best features of Fm 10 plus FM 09 Plus Fm 08 be better than Fm 10 when Fm 10 is suppose to improve on the other Fm's.