Is this cheating??!?

So, he (someone i know) is playing as Juventus in FM10 and has a remaining transfer budget of about £10million. He wants to buy Hulk, so offers 10mill up front, and then £25million after 30 league games.

Do you think this is cheating? What is the point of having a transfer budget if he is going to buy players in this way???

What do you guys think, have you ever done this?

if he wants to wreck his clubs finances, why not

and there is no cheating in FM at all, you buy the game to play it how you want

Nope.

It's a transfer trick like 48 months installment.

You'll pay the transfer fee both of the ways.

But if you sign a lot of players with these transfer tricks the club'll be banktrup in 2-3 years.

ur friends one of those dull people who need to find flaws in the game in able to be good at it, don't worry about him

If you have to ask 'is this cheating?' then the answer is usually 'yes, it is, now go and sit in the corner and feel ashamed you dirty, big, fat cheat!'

If you have to ask 'is this cheating?' then the answer is usually 'yes, it is, now go and sit in the corner and feel ashamed you dirty, big, fat cheat!'

I thought this myself as soon as I saw the OP

In my opinion it is cheating yes because he's gaining an unfair advantage. He pays the 10mil up front then pays the 25mil once the 30 leagues games have passed BUT to not do that he will not play him for the 30 games. He will spread out the league games so that he doesn't surpass the 30 mark and he won't have to pay the 25mil. EVENTUALLY he will reach the 30 mark though (unless he sells him on after about a season) over a course of time BUT he might have extra funds to do that but then he won't have much funds to pay for other players coming in unless he does the same thing or sells players. Also if he does it this way he'll risk upsetting the player because with a top player like Hulk he'll probably really expect to play in practically every league game, so he's just opening a whole can of worms doing it this way. It's a cheating advantage in the short term, but in the non-cheating term it will be a big, big problem.

if he wants to wreck his clubs finances, why not

and there is no cheating in FM at all, you buy the game to play it how you want

What about the "corner cheat" in FM10? Also, I'm sure there are people out there that re-load games they lose so they can win them next time which is also cheating. Cheating is to gain an unfair advantage so, like in all games, you CAN cheat in FM.

ur friends one of those dull people who need to find flaws in the game in able to be good at it, don't worry about him

Its not actually a flaw in the game this is a legitimate way that many clubs are able to afford players it just has to be used carefully so not to bankrupt the club. Many real life teams including Man Utd, Liverpool etc have paid for players using installments as thier transfer kitty had been exhausted for the current period.

There are only 2 ways you can "cheat" in FM (and I use the term loosely, because it's only cheating if you feel it's cheating):

1. Exploit known bugs in the game

2. Use external editors/tools

If it doesn't fall into one of these categories then 99% of people will agree that nothing has been done wrong.

there are a million ways to cheat on FM. I never do it because your only cheating yourself if you cheat anyway. Its like my mate took over as Morecambe and added all the best players in the world to his team such as Messi and ronaldo. He also gave himself 999 billion to spend and made Christie Park capacity 99999999999999999.

I was watching him play and just could'nt think of where he was getting his enjoyment from... each to their own suppose, did'nt bother me and if anything he looked like an idiot.

Nope.

It's a transfer trick like 48 months installment.

You'll pay the transfer fee both of the ways.

But if you sign a lot of players with these transfer tricks the club'll be banktrup in 2-3 years.

I have never set a club into bankrupcy, actually all clubs i have managed are financially successful. It's just a matter of planning and doing the right deals. You will have 4 years to pay for the player... hmm.. let me think, will I sell this player in this time? will I sell any other in this time? will i earn anything from tickets, prizes, sponsorships... Just do the math, most of the times you sell a player in up front cash and you will buy in 48 months installments. It´s just like a credit card, all you have to do is to know what you are doing

It's a good way to buy players but if you don't have success you can cripple your finances if you buy a few players this way.

My rule for cheaper transfers is: Half up front, half over 12 months.

More expensive transfers: Add 5 million over 12 months, 10 million over 24 months but only if they're really playing hard ball.

I'd never want to stretch my budget by overdoing this. You might think you're getting a good deal but it's lowering your budgets in later seasons, if your board think you're doing well the budgets will get higher and you'll start signing even more people without thinking. It's quite the balancing act. You should start to think more like a real business manager, balancing income and expenses to increase future financial stability.

Ok. The point that you real business manager don't get: buy low, sell high

it's a NEW PHILOSOPHY I have been implementing...

Of course you can't expect to buy Messi, C. Ronaldo and all others stars and make profit later

It's not always about suceeding. If you are from a high reputation league and buy a player from a low reputation league, at least you will draw.

I need a Left Defender, my current is valued at $100. Offer him for about $500 and sell for $350. yes? The one I want costs anything near $500 in 48 months. Did i lost $150?

No. Next transfer window or next year, whatever, he will cost at least $500. i´ll offer him for $1.5M. Maybe i can get $900, IN CASH NOW. If he spent 6 months in my club i would have spent $10,4 for his transfer fee. Not taking in acount signing fees and salaries for this period I have made $1490. Hm, i´ll need another player to replace him, let's spend $1000, 6 months later I will sell him for $2000. and so on...

I'm not taking in account the money i received from interest for having my money in the bank all this time. You don't have any penalties or interest for paying in 48 months.

Unless you want to spend all your profit paying Gary Neville for rotting in the reserves or you want to buy a 31 y/o Xavi for 30M pounds my tactic works and many other people do it. It's not a matter of "Oh my God, I'm paying in 48 months we will starve". Just pay reasonable fees for the quality of the player and later you will have profit and a better team in less time. Also, with cash in hands, board will give you higher budgets and will invest in infraestructure. Just try it and tell me later, really is not Advanced Economics C

It's your game, play it however you like. Unless they're playing with another person OR in the instance where they brag about how good they are, but cheat...who cares? It's just a game.

Omnivore, it is my brothers game...

Anyway, i see what you are saying. While it is not actually cheating, FM is a personal game that many of us play differently (LLM etc) and it is up to him whether he wants to gain enjoment playing a way that makes it easier for him.

Just annoys me when he goes on about his "achievements"

I think these tricks called gamey. It's abusing a game feature and makes the game unrealistic.

Yes, it's cheating.

£35m for hulk

id just assume he will sooner or later play those games since he is a good player, and if that will happen he have massivly overspent, no way that he is worth that much

bought him for £16m over 48 months recently, and i thought that was to much , so no, nothing wrong with what he is doing

Yes, it's cheating.

Totally agree

I was just thinking, you could do the ‘pay £20M after ... scores 50 goals’ for a defender. Just sayin’

And ye, it is cheating. Not like biting a cricket ball in a test match, but it perhaps a slight advantage to the user.

Ask Leeds if it's cheating, that's how Peter Ridsdale structures all his transfers.

Never mind, when the club goes bust move somewhere else:o

Omnivore, it is my brothers game...

Anyway, i see what you are saying. While it is not actually cheating, FM is a personal game that many of us play differently (LLM etc) and it is up to him whether he wants to gain enjoment playing a way that makes it easier for him.

Just annoys me when he goes on about his "achievements"

Right, then that's just annoying and he's clearly cheating. I can see where that'd be a pain, but anyone who uses cheats and then brags about how good they are is a silly person. Yes, i realize he's family. Just call him out as a cheater, seems you have a consensus the next time he brags.

The problem is this - what are the actual fall outs of bankrupting a club. Essentially nil.

The chairman will come and inject his cash and life will go on. If you are meeting your expectations you won't get sacked. The money will come form somewhere and the deal would be done. So whats the point of having these budgets really if this can be done?

Whereas, IRL, its much more difficult. Many deals such as this would be lovely IRL but would likely get vetoed by the chairman or whoever. Club could get kicked out of the league and punished points etc.

I

What about the "corner cheat" in FM10? Also, I'm sure there are people out there that re-load games they lose so they can win them next time which is also cheating. Cheating is to gain an unfair advantage so, like in all games, you CAN cheat in FM.

but who are you cheating? urself, that's all, so it's not really cheating, it's just making your enjoyment of the game lesser

but who are you cheating? urself, that's all, so it's not really cheating, it's just making your enjoyment of the game lesser

You're gaining an unfair advantage so it cheating. Doesn't matter if it's yourself or anyone else it's still cheating. And you really in a way are cheating others as you're cheating your way to win games against other teams, wether those teams are by the AI or other human players. Cheating is cheating.

I don't understand why it would be done though as, for me and in my opinion, there isn't any fun from it because it's not a challenge. Cheating takes the enjoyment out of playing the game.

That's not cheating at all. Also in real life if you miss the money to buy a player you can span it over x months. ( if both teams agree of course )

Example ? A.C. Milan bought Ibrahimovic for 22M the last summer and the payment will commence a year after the purchase.

You couldn't to this in older FMs. I remember in FM 2008 or 09 all money you offered had to be covered by your transfer budget otherwise it would say "Not enough funds" or something like that.

Not cheating

You're gaining an unfair advantage so it cheating. Doesn't matter if it's yourself or anyone else it's still cheating. And you really in a way are cheating others as you're cheating your way to win games against other teams, wether those teams are by the AI or other human players. Cheating is cheating.

I don't understand why it would be done though as, for me and in my opinion, there isn't any fun from it because it's not a challenge. Cheating takes the enjoyment out of playing the game.

Cheating yourself at the worst, doesn't really matter though does it? Doesn't effect anyone else's game, I'm still happy playing my game. If people want to "cheat", let them.

Its not cheating. you can offer the money over 48 months or like alot of clubs do with younger players, pay 2m upfront and 3m after 20 first team games.

using fmrte/save-reload is cheating the game but its your game and if you enjoy what you do then fair play.

Don't really see how it's cheating tbh but it's not really cheating, plenty of deals are structured like this IRL

This isn't cheating.

Too many people think a footballer is bought like a packet of crisps. The financial deals are often far more complex than represented in FM.

The example the OP uses is commonplace.

Just be glad we don't have the inclusion of insurance in the game - most people wouldn't be able to control their finances at all.

When football clubs buy players they for the most part buy them on installments over 2 years with 4 payments. There are also other times they borrow money from the bank to buy players.

They rarely buy players with cash up front from theyr own pocket, even tho they dont have debt. The reason for this is cash flow, and other economic stuff that I cant explain in english hehe

Absolutely NOT cheating. As many others have said, football transfers are nearly always structured with all kinds of add-ons, triggered after appearances, goals, promotions, European qualifications, trophies, etc etc etc.

Football Manager allows you to purchase players in this manner, just as in real life. Bear in mind though that these additional payments will come out of subsequent seasons transfer kitties - so if you spread £10m over 48 months you'll lose £2.5m per season off your budgets for those 4 seasons. But in no way are you getting "extra" money for yourself to spend, and therefore I can't see why anyone would think this is cheating.

Where Football Manager perhaps doesn't reflect reality is that you as the manager can set up many transfers in this way, and thus greatly increasing your spending power but jeapordise the club's financial stability; whereas IRL I suspect the CEO or Chairman would be doing these deals, with input from a Finance Director. Unless you're Peter Storrie or Peter Ridsdale, of course, in which case FM exactly reflects their method of financial "control".

I'm interested to see if people will get burned using this method when the making a profit over 6 years rule comes in to place.

It is a perfectly acceptable way to conduct transfers, although I know some people abuse it to the max by buying tons of players with nothing upfront which in my opinion is exploiting the system. In real life managers would never be able to spend 20 million over 48 months on tons of players, the board would probably be more likely see it as a 20 million transfer rather than the way the game percieves it as easily managed micropayments with no consequence.

I purchase players like this a lot. I'm in Iceland so I don't have huge finances right now but I'm getting to the CL group stages and turning £7m+ profit a season so for me it makes sense to do long term transfers.

Since money are paid , sooner or later, that's not cheating.

Not even close to cheating. Happens all the time IRL. Didn't Portsmouth have a player who they couldn't put in their team either this season or last as they couldn't afford to pay the clause that one more appearance would have activated?

They had to renegotiate the deal for Aruna Dindane so that they could use him in more games, clubs very rarely pay upfront deals for players anymore. Most deals are clause based and payments over time, I know with my club (Stoke) we have bought some players such as Kitson at £5.5m but due to his poor performance we only paid about 75% of that deal. Kenwynne Jones was an £8m signing at £2m per year over 4 seasons.

Don´t upset him or he might turn green and big.

Nope.

It's a transfer trick like 48 months installment.

You'll pay the transfer fee both of the ways.

But if you sign a lot of players with these transfer tricks the club'll be banktrup in 2-3 years.

Not really. Tons of clubs will just give you a cash injection, if you are successfull.

I don't consider 48mth installments cheating per se, but i never do it. I always pay what i think is a realistic sum.

Not even close to cheating. Happens all the time IRL. Didn't Portsmouth have a player who they couldn't put in their team either this season or last as they couldn't afford to pay the clause that one more appearance would have activated?

This is correct, but you have to consider that multiple deals for tens of millions over 48months is not a realistic scenario. For instance all these gamers getting world class players all over 48 month installments.

So, he (someone i know) is playing as Juventus in FM10 and has a remaining transfer budget of about £10million. He wants to buy Hulk, so offers 10mill up front, and then £25million after 30 league games.

Do you think this is cheating? What is the point of having a transfer budget if he is going to buy players in this way???

What do you guys think, have you ever done this?

The £25 million would not be sanctioned for that particular clause, imo. But £10 mill upfront is not that bad, if the remainder was over a couplke of yrs. However, when people sign players fro nothing upfront, then that is taking advantage

To put it bluntly no i dont think it is cheating unless the game is being edited or minipulated (for example editors)

He is just making use of a feature the game has made available, if it is seen as cheating and unrealistic SI would not have this feature in the game. It is used in real life is it not?

This is correct, but you have to consider that multiple deals for tens of millions over 48months is not a realistic scenario. For instance all these gamers getting world class players all over 48 month installments.

Its certainly an exploit but if they wanted to flat out cheat then FMRTE is a much more unethical option.

Are you cheating life by using a credit card or taking out a mortgage? Should you be forced to pay upfront?

The only way it's cheating is if you use that method of paying to buy loads of -9 and -10 player's that you've looked up, thus ensuring you clubs future success. If you play properly then there's a chance you'll just bankrupt yourself from all the monthly repayments you build up. Depends who you're managing though

Do you think this is cheating? No.

This isn't cheating.

Spreading the payments of a transfer fee is something that was used by Portsmouth IRL, hence why they got in such financial ruin!