Question I have always wanted to ask other players.

With the new features since 2007 the game now is quite omplex regarding tactics, amount of sliders, especially if you change tactics for away games etc and rotate team. I have heard people getting through 5/10 seasons in no time?? I dont think I have got through 2 seasons since fm07. Mainly as I was addicted to fm06 and didnt like 07 and 08 or 09. I then really got into fm10 but take ages per game moving sliders and re setting players instructions regadring set pieces and instructions as any team change means moving 20/30 sliders sometimes more.

I take it either doesnt make a big difference all this stuff I do. Like plyers roles and duties also? I also take alot of time on my reserves and u18's playing friendlies etc for the players who dont get in either team so that takes up alot of time. I always leave those teams to assitants but to make sure they only select from certain players I move players up or down between the squads.

Anyway my main question being how much ime and detail do people go into from game to game and how do they complete a season so quickly?

I put one tactic together at the start of the season and keep It that way for the rest of my career. Some managers can only play one way, so if I go to a new club, I'll sell players who don't fit into my plans

I put one tactic together at the start of the season and keep It that way for the rest of my career. Some managers can only play one way, so if I go to a new club, I'll sell players who don't fit into my plans

Wow? So you never change any sliders when you make team hanges etc?Like player roles and duties as well? So you will have some players doing long shots often with maybe low shooting stat etc?

We've had threads like this before which I've found to be quite revealing. I'm a micro-manager, taking an hour to get through a game week if there's a match, and a real-life month to do a season. This will be even slower in FM12 but I prefer the depth. Then there are those who tweak very little, watch matches on key highlights and zoom through seasons. Even more exasperating for me are those who holiday through games because they can't be bothered with the matches. I guess that's the beauty of FM - you can make of it what you want.

I put one tactic together at the start of the season and keep It that way for the rest of my career. Some managers can only play one way, so if I go to a new club, I'll sell players who don't fit into my plans

I do this too. I have a very strong 4-3-1-2 where the centre defenders manage 10-15 goals a season and the forwards manage 30+ each. The left sided one in the middle 3 gets a tonne of assists and the AMC gets 20+ goals and assists.

The current left sided mid is Bale in my Spurs side, he's 32 now. Here is a sample of his league stats:

2015/16, 30 apps, 10 goals, 24 assists, 4 MOM, ave 8.36

2017/18, 37 apps, 21 goals, 40 assists, 9 MOM, ave 8.42

2018/19, 27 apps, 11 goals, 29 assists, 3 MOM, ave 8.13

2020/21, 28 goals, 8 goals, 34 assists, 4 MOM, ave 8.21

The only problem with the formation is that he's listed as M/AML and the formation counts him as a centre midfielder so it will come up as red (instead of various shades of green) and there will be a note about retraining him as a centre mid - I have ignored this though.

Maybe the game can't cope with him being a winger, playing as if he was a winger, but being in a central position. I don't know, not complaining though.

We've had threads like this before which I've found to be quite revealing. I'm a micro-manager, taking an hour to get through a game week if there's a match, and a real-life month to do a season. .

That sounds like a really boring way to play the game!

I put one tactic together at the start of the season and keep It that way for the rest of my career. Some managers can only play one way, so if I go to a new club, I'll sell players who don't fit into my plans

Am exactly the same. I've been playing the same tactic with every team I've played since way back. If it's not broken...

The transfer market is where I get a tactic to work, by buying the right players.

I'm a tweaker. I'll generally spend a considerable amount of time developing a tactic, constantly improving it by increments. I also make a gung-ho attacking tactic to switch or batter lesser teams and also an ultra-defensive holding tactic to help us hold leads. But all three of these tactics change depending on the strengths of the team I inherit. My only consistency is playing a high defensive line.

I'm also a wheeler-dealer and bargain hunter. Most of my playing time is spent searching for and aquiring players that would suit our team and moving the deadweight along. In my first two seasons it's not unsual to have 25 signings, 15 sales and 50 releases.

Sliders? :confused:

I dont really touch the sliders at all, i set up a tactic in the TC and make use of shouts and OI's when needed, the only slider i sometimes change is defensive line if i have an ageing centre half in my team.

The thing that worries me is Match Prep. If you go about chopping and changing your tactics every game you get punished because the team's familiarity with the tactic goes down (and thus so does their performance one would assume).

It's a real grey area for me and one that I'd like clarifying.

I'm always scared to make changes because I want my match prep to be high, so I have 3 tactics that I change between and that's about it because of that very reason.

I've also noticed that if you change the shouts (e.g. Defense, Contain, Counter, Attack & Overload) the match prep levels drop, so is it even worth altering it if you're say a goal down and you change to overload - what's the benefit?

All of which is a long-winded way of saying - Just how important is match prep because I feel it's restricting my freedom tactically on a game to game basis.

I dont really touch the sliders at all, i set up a tactic in the TC and make use of shouts and OI's when needed, the only slider i sometimes change is defensive line if i have an ageing centre half in my team.

Oi! ageism is an offence:mad:

I tend to stick with pretty much the same tactics for as long as they work for the team. Being able to have 2 or 3 different tactics saved is a god-send now though; if something isn't working, I already have another one lined up for the middle of a match.

Training I typically set up when I take over and never look at it again. Press conferences are usually so predictable that it'll take a few seconds to get through. I'll spend a while looking for new players, and choosing which team talks to use as well, but everything else just flies by.

I put one tactic together at the start of the season and keep It that way for the rest of my career. Some managers can only play one way, so if I go to a new club, I'll sell players who don't fit into my plans

I'm pretty much the same, although I generally have 2 tactics, home and away, but they're only slight variations on each other. Standard player roles used for each position so I don't edit the individual player instuctions at all, I just make sure I buy players that fit the roles.

Well if you play a certain formation and tempo on a regular basis then obviously your team will be more used to that style, but that doesnt mean they cannot perform playing a different formation or tempo, they may not be as used too it, but it can still work, i wouldnt worry so much about it to be honest, tempo one i change the most game to game depending on opposition and i couldnt say i have noticed a big drop in performances when i have changed from the norm.

Oi! ageism is an offence:mad:

pft shouldnt you be smoking your "shag" somewhere

That sounds like a really boring way to play the game!

Not for me it isn't, and that's my point.

Maybe it is an age thing. Do young whipper-snappers bomb through seasons with one tactic because they're shallow and have the attention span of a goldfish?

Not for me it isn't, and that's my point.

Maybe it is an age thing. Do young whipper-snappers bomb through seasons with one tactic because they're shallow and have the attention span of a goldfish?

Can I answer that?

Not for me it isn't, and that's my point.

Maybe it is an age thing. Do young whipper-snappers bomb through seasons with one tactic because they're shallow and have the attention span of a goldfish?

No, old people are just slow, that must be why you like playing the game that way.

Not for me it isn't, and that's my point.

Maybe it is an age thing. Do young whipper-snappers bomb through seasons with one tactic because they're shallow and have the attention span of a goldfish?

I'm no whipper-snapper but I just use the same 2 tactics all season. So I don't think it's an age thing, it's more than different people enjoy focussing on different aspects of managing a team.

So in my case I don't rush through the game in general, I just don't spend a lot of time tweaking the tactics (or indeed on the actual matches in general) - I find tactics that work (home and away) and stick with them.

But I still spend a lot of time looking at other areas of the gameplay, mainly scouting and developing players. I may use the same tactics most of the time, but for that to be effective I need to have pretty much the perfect players for the tactics I use, and finding and developing those players take a lot of time and effort - so thats the side of the game that I focus most of my attention on.

I put one tactic together at the start of the season and keep It that way for the rest of my career. Some managers can only play one way, so if I go to a new club, I'll sell players who don't fit into my plans

I do the same. I also never use sliders, just change my touchline shouts and strategy.

While applying touchline instructions does lower the match prep bars, they are very beneficial during the game, even though, technically, your players are not used to those instructions. It's clearly visible if you watch the game on Extended highlights (or full match, needless to say).

i only use 1 tactic, but its the perfect tactic , although a simple 4-4-2 the way they play is like barcelona passing, arsenals "invincibles" defending, with a ambitious squad who work 100% until the final whistle which is usually when the opposition lose concentration and i score goals such as late winners, equalisers......works perfectly because of balance. 5 attackin players 5 defensive, all with a certain way to play,

I put one tactic together at the start of the season and keep It that way for the rest of my career. Some managers can only play one way, so if I go to a new club, I'll sell players who don't fit into my plans

this. I play with 3 CB's, 1 DMC, 3 MC's, 1 AMC, and 2 FW's. All my players have to play in that position. If I have one winger, I'll sell them in a heartbeat. I hate getting offered wingers.

I'll use the one tactic for a team, but I only make it when I start at the new team. I'll also micro-manage, I don't see how you could holiday through what's IMO the most important part of the game! I'll holiday the bit between end of games in the season to the end of the actual season...

The last few FM's have had the same schedule:

Fri (release day);

Early AM buy game, installing by 11 am-ish. Play all day, maybe 1 hour out. Will not have played 1st pre season friendly til late night, so thats approx 10 hours just on setting up the team & squad.

Sat (day 2):

All day trialling & scouting, probably only get through 3 weeks of "game time" in 12 hours playing time.

Sun (day 3):

Same as day 2, probably play 1st League match late afternoon. Only play 1-2 more matches by bed time, back to work next morning!

I will play approx 2-3 hours every weekday evening then-on and maybe 10-12 hours per day at the weekends. As a guide, with the Nov 5th release of last year and with playing pretty much all day every day over Xmas period I did not reach the end of the 1st Season until approx 27th December!

Thats how I do it.

(PS I have NEVER gotten beyond 2 seasons in any save game since FM2006 !

That sounds exactly like me tiger. I'll add - first 2 days in the editor before I even create my first savegame.

Play for a week until uncle ron's Level 8 non-league file is out, then load that up and start again.

Play for a while, totally engrossed in my save until the 2nd patch comes out. Install it and start again.

Make great progress with that save until the 3rd patch comes out; rinse and repeat.

That's why I never get far (3rd season in FM11).

I really hope this time the game is good to go out of the box or that a patch for everything is out on the same day.

If I can actually fire up a save before the end of October and keep going without any restarts, I might, for the first time ever, take my non-league club into the football league!!!

I usually pick a tactic, stick with it for a few seasons. Sometimes I tweak it slightly depending on the players I sign or promote into the First Team.

I try to stick to the same tactic, but if its not working im more than happy to tinker with it. I like my formations to have wingers and 2 strikers. Ive never had success with a lone forward!

Cruisey, it takes me an incredibly long time to get through a season. I would say that if I play FM for an hour or two each evening before bed like I sometimes do, I will maybe be close to the January transfer window after, say, two weeks.

When I start a new game, it takes me maybe 3-4 hours alone of constant play before I even get close to playing my first game of the season. This is, of course, because I thoroughly scout targets, experiment with tactics, create training schedules, etc etc etc. I do everything hands on (I even manage my youth squad from time to time if players are not adapting to positions quickly enough or if they are losing in their league, and play every youth cup game).