How about a casual mode in FM 11?

Hello to everyone.

This is my first post and I would like to take this opportunity to propose something I have been thinking about for the last couple of years. I have been an FM fan since 2006 and, each year SI has been adding many new elements and improvements to the game. This has greatly increased the realism of FM but,in my opinion, has also introduced an extra level of complexity and micro-management.

For example, we have different player personalities which require specialized team-talks (check the team-talk guides and the relevant discussion). We have the need to fine-tune our tactic for each opponent, the weather, our starting players' statistics and the pitch size. We have AI teams playing more defensively when you have had a good first round leading to an overhaul of your tactics and a mid-season slump many people have been experiencing. Don't get me wrong. All these show that the people at SI have worked a lot to make this game as realistic as possible. However, I suppose that to some players (including myself) that may be a problem. I wish I were an 18 year old college student again, but sadly I'm not. I am 30 with a full time job and a family. Frankly, I can't devote as much time as it is now required to tune each aspect of the game. I also suck at tactics. For the life of me, many times I can't recognize what effect a change in a slider or an option may have by watching the match engine.

What I propose is this: have an option when you start a save called "casual mode" or similar which gives a 10-20% performance boost to your players in each game, desensitizes their morale by the same amount, enables 10-20% more famous player to be interested in being transferred to your team etc. Or you can have all these as separate options and each person can choose what they like. Someone can say that you can do this in the editor, get a billion euros transfer money, change your players to all 20s etc. However, I don't want to ruin my game, I'm just looking for a more accessible experience to a more casual player like myself.

Once again, I have nothing but the greatest respect for SI and all the hard effort they have put in and continue to do so with every new version. I have spent countless hours over the last five years enjoying FM, although it is getting a little frustrating. Maybe I'm getting too old :o

Thanks to everyone for reading my rant. I would appreciate any comments.

You don't need to change tactics for every opponent, sometimes just changing the strategy from control to counter is enough.

And the Assistant Manager can handle all your team talks, press conferences, contracts, etc. to save you a lot of time.

I swear people seem to overlook individual player instructions and that's why they can't get their tactics right, understanding how to use man marking properly has helped a great deal for me, for example.

I swear people seem to overlook individual player instructions and that's why they can't get their tactics right, understanding how to use man marking properly has helped a great deal for me, for example.

Personally, I think there's a little too much micro-management required, but my impression is most people (on this forum at least) like it that way.

I swear people seem to overlook individual player instructions and that's why they can't get their tactics right, understanding how to use man marking properly has helped a great deal for me, for example.

You can be successful without looking at individual instructions, just do it all in the wizard, you can then occasionally change roles/duties to suit different players. It takes me about 1 minute to set up my team before a match, and I still had plenty of success.

Welcome to the boards and good first post

(If you consider this as a rant already then have a look around...)

While I disagree with your specific suggestions I can see your point. I am 32 now as well and having less and less time for FM. Got it within a week after relase and managed a mere 4 seasons so far

Your suggestion is basically aiming at introducing difficulty modes. I have suggested that (achieved by different means) in the past as well but I always got the reply of "never going to happen" from SI, so any discussion is probably rather fruitless...

To be fair, FM10 is a lot better in terms of being able to avoid micro-management than FM09 was. The tactics creator allows you to set a tactic fairly quickly and the need to tweak is much less than it was before. Also you can use a button for opposition instructions and for team-talks just saying nothing works very well. On top of that the match and game speed were increased.

Of course for optimum performance you need to invest a bit more than that, but I feel that results are still very acceptable with just basic effort. So SI are heading into the right direction recently if you ask me. If they continue this approach then difficulty levels may indeed not be needed.

You can be successful without looking at individual instructions, just do it all in the wizard, you can then occasionally change roles/duties to suit different players. It takes me about 1 minute to set up my team before a match, and I still had plenty of success.

Don't get me wrong i don't change a whole lot, just a few instructions, isn't much more to it really, then change things as the game changes.

But that is kind of beside the point he's making.

It is true that each new FM brings more complexity and gamers generally adapt but it is getting harder and is taking more time in general. So, it's perfectly understandable some people don't have the time or the energy to do it.

Some kind of casual mode would be a relatively simple way to help out those people - a bit better performance from the player, bit higher morale, a bit more consistency etc... and you have it easier for those who want. It's basically like a permanent bonus, no need for serious tweaking of the code...

true, the game become much more easy with tactic creator you dont need realy casual mode to win.

what you do need is to understand some basic rules, like understand your scout report to conter other AI managers in the game.

use media to fire up your players, set your players in a tactic the fit your team level.

this basic tips you can find around, even inside the game help, or just here on the forum, the game is very simple.

last thing, try to skip static havy edit tactics that people share around the forum, they will block you from useing shout and understand the idia of the game, a static tactic will try score 3 goals when when you all ready lead by 2, and you cant shout your players to go back and save some power for other games becouse the editing block it, keep your tactic clean in the parts you can use shout, if you dont it will lead you to be frustrated, good luck.

You know what? We should just make the game so you don't have to do anything and it makes you win matches anyway!

I'm actually not sure about the point, FM is too hard or FM takes too long to play?

I honestly believe that having to change your tactics every game, for every opponent, is a myth. Get a good tactic and good players and you will generally finish where you deserve as long as you keep your squad happy. I use one tactic and in-match only use touchline shouts and subs for the most of the time and I do pretty decently.

I'm not sure how it would work either, pretty sure it would take too long for SI to do too.

I think the game already has a casual mode. It is using the tactics wizard, using the assistant manager to take control of team talks/press conferences, using scout reports, backroom advice, etc. All these things make alot less work for you as the manager, so you can get on and pick the team and play the game. In fact, you don't even have to pick the team, you can ask your assistant to do that as well.

I consider myself to be a casual manager, as I use alot of these things not because I feel I can't do it myself, but because it saves time.

Its not as satisfying leaving your assistant to do everything though, atm i use him for press conferences/some team talks(not all).

I have never once, in all the years of CM/FM gaming ever felt the need to change tactics because of the weather.

Personally I think what you are describing is Fifa Manager. Still good first post mate, well thought out.

I'm actually not sure about the point, FM is too hard or FM takes too long to play?

I honestly believe that having to change your tactics every game, for every opponent, is a myth. Get a good tactic and good players and you will generally finish where you deserve as long as you keep your squad happy. I use one tactic and in-match only use touchline shouts and subs for the most of the time and I do pretty decently.

This is absolutely correct. I've won countless trophies, league titles, cups with many different teams in many different leagues without having to change my tactics. The most I do is a couple of minor tweaks at the start of each season when new players join my first XI.

If anything, tactical consistency is the key to success in FM. I just don't know where this idea that you have to change tactics for every game comes from..

I rarley change my tactics. I have a counter attack tactic in most games. Sometimes if I am playing an easy team go for an attacking tactic but 80% of games its the one tactic.

I'm actually not sure about the point, FM is too hard or FM takes too long to play?

Afai understand it's kind of a combination of those. I'd say the argument is that you need to spend too much time to be really successful.

@Zbutsam: Have a look at this tactic. It works so well that indeed you keep on winning without too much fuzz. Might be what you are looking for

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=194951

I rarley change my tactics. I have a counter attack tactic in most games. Sometimes if I am playing an easy team go for an attacking tactic but 80% of games its the one tactic.

You must be lucky then if you don't have to change much, but i find if i dont make the right instructions before a game the AI will beat me. This i have no problem with.

I dunno about the whole changing tactics thing- whenever I play as a team, I find one tactic that suits them (which I will change as my roster changes) and just switch around the touchline shouts and strategies in-game. I've had pretty good results with that since the demo. I honestly feel like the tactical system in FM10 is much better than it was in FM09 (the only other version I've played and, hence, the only comparison I can make).

Welcome to the forums. Not read all your post but based on the thread title, a resounding 'no' from me. Next!

I'm actually not sure about the point, FM is too hard or FM takes too long to play?

I honestly believe that having to change your tactics every game, for every opponent, is a myth. Get a good tactic and good players and you will generally finish where you deserve as long as you keep your squad happy. I use one tactic and in-match only use touchline shouts and subs for the most of the time and I do pretty decently.

I do the same. Once you've figured out how the computer is playing you and which shouts should be used against which type of approach, the game comes down to how well you've motivated your players and how well they execute the strategy (and talent level, of course). Some games are frustrating when you know you have the right setup and you just can't score, but that's true in real life as well.

I thought that the tactic wizard was a casual option myself. It has taken away a lot of the work in creating a solid tactic and requires only minimal work to make it a great tactic ( as long as you have the right players and such like ). You don't even need to do team talks or even deal with contracts yourself if you don't want to, just leave it to the assman. Just tinker with the your tactics, look at your players, see where are your strengths and try to mould your tactics around them.

I said a few weeks ago in another post I would like to see an "arcade mode" similar to when Champ Man first came out on the Amiga in the early 1990s. Sometimes, I just want to play without having to think too much after a hard day at work. :-)