FM12 transfer system TESTED: I can't buy Sakho for 40m, but AI does for 15m !!! WTF

Hello. This OP is a REAL test I have done 2 times with Man City.

I have started a new game with City and tried to buy some great defenders.

My first choice was Sakho from PSG, but they didn't sell him for 40m and didn't want any negociation...

Nothing to do so I've bought following players: Chiellini, Thiago Silva, Ter Stegen, Hulk, etc...

Then I suddenly got the idea to leave Man City and to holiday until the end of the transfer period. And I did it...

I came back from holiday on 1st september. I noticed Van Gaal was appointed as new Man City manager.

Then I have taken a look at the transfers City had done after me...

they had bought a lot of players, but the most shocking one was: SAKHO (for 14.75m!!!)

I was like WTF ?!! How was it possible ??

I was sooo pissed of that I have started a new game again with City, but exactly same story; I again didn't succeed to buy Sakho, when I left the club, the AI bought him just for 14.75m...

I can not explain how ridiculous this is !!

It is ridiculous, always has been

Hello. This OP is a REAL test I have done 2 times with Man City.

I have started a new game with City and tried to buy some great defenders.

My first choice was Sakho from PSG, but they didn't sell him for 40m and didn't want any negociation...

Nothing to do so I've bought following players: Chiellini, Thiago Silva, Ter Stegen, Hulk, etc...

Then I suddenly got the idea to leave Man City and to holiday until the end of the transfer period. And I did it...

I came back from holiday on 1st september. I noticed Van Gaal was appointed as new Man City manager.

Then I have taken a look at the transfers City had done after me...

they had bought a lot of players, but the most shocking one was: SAKHO (for 14.75m!!!)

I was like WTF ?!! How was it possible ??

I was sooo pissed of that I have started a new game again with City, but exactly same story; I again didn't succeed to buy Sakho, when I left the club, the AI bought him just for 14.75m...

I can not explain how ridiculous this is !!

Did you in any test stay at City right up until the last minute of deadline day, and keep bidding for him ?

I'd suggest running another test but this time stay at City & try to but Sakho at the same time the AI is managing to get the deal done. It is also worth looking at what media interaction the City manager had as there is a chance your initial bid unsettled Sakho & further press talk pushed PSG into a corner.

I also think there is a secondary issue of PSG actually allowing the deal as they are not short of a Bob or two these days.

I forgot to mention: In the 1st game I left City on 11 july and City bought Sakho on 14 july. I don't remember 2nd game. I'm sure there was NO media interaction at all.

What you need to do is start another game & follow the steps below.

1. Save game just before you make the initial bid
   
2. Once you've replicated the process you've done before (made bid, had it rejected), save game again using a different file name then resign & holiday.
   
3. If City have signed Sakho for a much lower value save for a 3rd time, again use a different file name
   
4. Go back to step 2 but this time stay with City & see if you can sign Sakho for a similar value, save game again at the end of the transfer window or when a bid accepted, which ever is first.
   

You should now have 4 different game files, just zip them into a folder & upload the details to SI's ftp site with a brief post in the bugs forum.

Best thing to do would be to post this in the bugs forum so that SI can look into it themselves as well.

The transfer system has always been broke, its been too hard to sell players and the worst thing was youd try to buy a player and hed turn down 15k and then a week later sign 2 divisions below you at 2k a week.

The human is not treated the same as the ai in transfers, presumably to handicap the player so they cant make better moves than the ai.

I declared an interest in him with Man City and bid £10 million rejected, £15 million rejected, £20 million they wanted £38 million signed him for £28 million.

That still begs the question, why are PSG selling him?

How do you know Man City signed him for £14.75m when you weren't the manager?

I'm guessing just by looking at the transfer history but that has never told the full story, what about other transfer clauses?

I suggest better testing methods

check to see his player manager thinks of you, maybe his manager hates you and thus the reason they never wanted to negotiate with you.

Cases like above is one of reasons why I always suspect AI was cheating.

All we have are developers words that they aren't.

check to see his player manager thinks of you, maybe his manager hates you and thus the reason they never wanted to negotiate with you.

Sorry but i'm not having that a club sells a player for £25m less to the same club because they dislike a certain manager.

Normally when your scout, scout them . They might drop a value 80% chance the value will work . Some time is manager friendship with other club manager which makes nego easier . Maybe u keep biding and they hated u. Every one saves depends on the player mood to the current time .

Stop giving the manager relationship excuse, people. It makes no sense why PSG, a rich club with sugar daddy, would sell their captain, their best youth product, to Man City for £25m less just because Man City has a nice manager. This is clearly a flaw in the transfer system. It's been posted in the forums for years about the difference between player-to-AI and AI-to-AI transfers.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Bought 28 July.

This is a problem, quite a few topics with this and not really any help from SI (to be expected?). They dismiss most bugs/issues as one off's and/or something which can be explained and could happen in real life. (Like my bug posting and it was dismissed. HOW CAN A BOARD CRITICISE ME FOR NOT GETTING AT LEAST A DRAW AGAINST A TEAM ON SUPERB FORM 2 LEAGUES HIGHER THAN ME IN A LEAGUE CUP GAME WHEN THE GAME GOES TO EXTRA TIME AND PENS???!!!)

When has a Club not accepted 40 million for a player, to 3 days later accept 14.75? How realistic is this?

The WHOLE of the transfer process needs to be re-evaluated and re-developed. Its flawed and stupid most of the time.

Just done a test myself:

Cahill. CD, has a year left on contract, Me (with International rep), Liverpool and Arsenal were interested. I bid £20million and Bolton asked for £34mil. Not a chance. He went to Liverpool for 12.5mil.

Hugely realistic.

Just to be sure, you have checked that they the 14.75m isn't just the upfront payment with installments also being paid?

check to see his player manager thinks of you, maybe his manager hates you and thus the reason they never wanted to negotiate with you.

Which would be ridiculous, anyway. It never happens in real life, business is business, it doesn't matter who you like or don't.

Stop giving the manager relationship excuse, people. It makes no sense why PSG, a rich club with sugar daddy, would sell their captain, their best youth product, to Man City for £25m less just because Man City has a nice manager. This is clearly a flaw in the transfer system. It's been posted in the forums for years about the difference between player-to-AI and AI-to-AI transfers.

No matter what people will try to defend the game with stupid excuses rather than try to accept where the bug is coming from which would help improve the game. I agree this needs to be sorted.

Yeah, it will be shorted, like it's been sorted ALL these years.

Man, many of us that have played this game for years have actually started to outgrow it. It's mistakes, unbalances and bugs have taken their toll (I imagine on sales too), especially those which remain unfixed.

Great game but it has hit a development ceiling for more than 3 years now.

I've been saying that the transfer system is broken since FM11.

In FM12 I've played with Arsenal and Ajax, and let me tell you what I noticed:

- at Arsenal I wanted to buy Mateo Kovacic.... after some negotiation they accept a bid of 3.5 mio € and 40% of profits from next sale... i offered him a contract, and then Manchester city made a bid of 2.1 mio €, which was immidiately accepted, and he joined them instead.

- at Arsenal I bought Hulk for 28 mio €, and I thought I got him cheeply since they first wanted 40 mio... but then when I played with Ajax he joined Tottenham for 13 mio €!!!

- I bought Eriksen from Ajax to Arsenal... I didn't want to pay more than 10 mio € so I negotiated a bit... the wouldn't budge, 13 mio € was as low as they went... so now I'm managing Ajax and Chelsea wanted Eriksen, and 8 mio e was theire highest offer, while offer from other clubs were even lower (between 5 and 6.5 mio €)

Some explanation:

- Arsenal and Ajax were my two different saves

- I started up the game with identical settings (large database; English, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Dutch and Portuguese - all 1. and 2. division)

Anyway, the transfer system allways finds a way to fu** you over, and it's frustrating!

and hence the reason fmrte exist...

I've been saying that the transfer system is broken since FM11.

It's been a lot longer than that.

The AI don't cheat. Accept that.

It's been a lot longer than that.

I don't know... FM10 had problems, sure... but not this kind.

The transfer system has always been broke, its been too hard to sell players and the worst thing was youd try to buy a player and hed turn down 15k and then a week later sign 2 divisions below you at 2k a week.

The human is not treated the same as the ai in transfers, presumably to handicap the player so they cant make better moves than the ai.

That has always been the problem. There is no fairness in this game. Thank goodness I did not buy FM 2012 and hope that SI will fix this for the next version.

I don't think it's broken. I offered £12m for wilshere in my 4th season. - rejected. a week later he rejected their contract so I offered his asking price of £5.5m and they accepted. I think the clubs just want to get the best they can. It all depends on the situation.

I suggest better testing methods

suggest them then

I've been saying that the transfer system is broken since FM11.

In FM12 I've played with Arsenal and Ajax, and let me tell you what I noticed:

- at Arsenal I wanted to buy Mateo Kovacic.... after some negotiation they accept a bid of 3.5 mio € and 40% of profits from next sale... i offered him a contract, and then Manchester city made a bid of 2.1 mio €, which was immidiately accepted, and he joined them instead.

- at Arsenal I bought Hulk for 28 mio €, and I thought I got him cheeply since they first wanted 40 mio... but then when I played with Ajax he joined Tottenham for 13 mio €!!!

- I bought Eriksen from Ajax to Arsenal... I didn't want to pay more than 10 mio € so I negotiated a bit... the wouldn't budge, 13 mio € was as low as they went... so now I'm managing Ajax and Chelsea wanted Eriksen, and 8 mio e was theire highest offer, while offer from other clubs were even lower (between 5 and 6.5 mio €)

Some explanation:

- Arsenal and Ajax were my two different saves

- I started up the game with identical settings (large database; English, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Dutch and Portuguese - all 1. and 2. division)

Anyway, the transfer system allways finds a way to fu** you over, and it's frustrating!

Had a similar thing last night. Playing as Liverpool and tried to sign M'Villa. Negotiated all summer, but couldn't get them to accept a bid. Eventually, at the end of the window they accepted a bid of £40m from me. They then instantly accepted a bid of £21m from AC Milan and he joined them. Annoying to say the least

I really like people who try to defend the developers at SI with different ideas (like media interaction, players preferences and so on), while not realizing that there is definitely an issue with the transfer system. I like FM, I am in awe of it, but I can't ignore the fact that the transfer system sucks - it didn't happen to me once or twice, but always - the AI buys cheaper than the player, and that's that. Don't try to find excuses anymore, there is a problem with the transfer system since I've been playing this game (FM05) and SI completely ignores it year after year.

Yeah that's no problem at all...

Just create a new game, start FMRTE and look at the ludicrous "Ask Price" values for players...

With a test save with City I offered 35M each for Vermaelen and Taiwo (!!!), both got rejected... While I'm pretty sure IRL both offers would be accepted in a heartbeat and both managers would laugh all the way to the bank...

suggest them then

I'm not the one suggesting the game cheats with only 2 flawed examples. So nah, think I'll continue playing FM

suggest them then

Let SI do the testing

Let SI do the testing

Yeah because that has worked wonders for years...

Seriously... did you read my post?

£35M for Taye Taiwo and Thomas Vermaelen got turned down... in which universe could that happen?

meh this subject is a mine field, im sure you are aware of my thoughts on it so im not getting into another round of "i dont think this is a huge issue" with the usual" shut up fanboi" comments to follow. Personally i find the transfer market fine, but that solely my opinion and should not be credited as an opinion of SI.